


Lance and Hunk's Babysitting Adventure

by Teal_Rainbeau



Series: Voltron as inspired by 80s flicks [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Babysitting, Based on an 80s Movie, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Dialogue Heavy, Disney References, Established Keith/Lance, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Crack, Fluff and Humor, Gay Keith (Voltron), Gen, Getting Together, Happy Ending, Hunk & Keith (Voltron) Friendship, Hunk & Lance (Voltron) Friendship, Hunk (Voltron) Has Anxiety, Hunk (Voltron) is a Good Friend, Keith (Voltron) is a Good Boyfriend, Kosmo is a puppy, Lance & Rachel (Voltron) are Twins, Lance (Voltron) is a Good Boyfriend, Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, M/M, Minor Hunk/Shay (Voltron), Model Allura (Voltron), Oriande is Like Beverly Hills, Pining James Griffin (Voltron), Profanity, Rachel Is Scared of Love, Random humor, Randomness, Sequel, Spotify Playlist Included, Suggestive Dialogue, Summer Romance, Summer Vacation, Teen Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-11
Updated: 2020-03-31
Packaged: 2020-06-26 04:29:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 40,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19760620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Teal_Rainbeau/pseuds/Teal_Rainbeau
Summary: 3-31: Uploaded epilogue and did a story-wide edit for better sentence structure and flow._________________________________When Keith finds himself stranded at the Zarkon International Airport, Lance and Hunk will have to go two hours north to pick him up, but not without a few mishaps or so. With a child and a preteen as their passengers, the young men will have to keep rolling with the punches without ruining anyone's childhood.(Loosely based off of the 1987 movie "Adventures in Babysitting")_________________________________An official sequel/standalone to the hilariousGarrett & McClain's Day OffTumblr♪Spotify Playlist/Fic Soundtrack♪





	1. "You Should Try Babysitting"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One day it's a sweet confession, another day it's a mission to get Keith from the airport.

So at the end, you just pay the introductory rate each month, and then we’ll waive the device fee for as long as you continue to make on-time payments.”

Lance heard every bit of Hunk’s aggressive selling technique, and he wanted to take a break and shake him by his shoulders with a “chill out already” gesture. If it weren’t for such a slow day his hands would be busy doing anything besides smearing the cases and swiping them with cloths over and over. Something to appear as the dutiful employee.

This job still paid so much better than the one he rescinded on for the county. And his ears were grateful for the top 40 Muzak pouring from the ceilings and creating a festive atmosphere on the small sells floor with its varied drums and keyboard riffs.

He heard Hunk welcome an incoming customer and poised himself at the current display of a razor thin phone, one with an 8-mega pixel camera with HD display and a beautiful array of backgrounds and ringtones. The sexy lady coming in would be the perfect fit for a phone of this caliber: A-line summer dress that shimmied as she galloped around the store, three-inch chunky heels, a nice curtain of dark orange hair, and an iridescence that flickered in her eyes as she removed her shades.

“And what might capture your interest today?” the words glided out of his mouth like freshly beaded honey.

She was searching for something that could fit in an evening bag. Something…incognito, she told him.

“We’re having a special on the Motor Racer 9X, which is thin enough to fit in your purse and sleek enough to fit your frame…”

“My _frame_?” she asked more in oblivion as opposed to offense.

“Uh…yeah!” he sputtered as he scrambled to correct his choice of words. “And in this frame, a picture of someone who has places to go, people to see, time to _spend wisely_.” He showcased her playfully with his long arms.

“You’re adorable. How did I manage to find someone like you here in the Garrison Mall of all places? You should be a talent agent.” She winked.

“Well, you know… just telling it like I see it.”

Hunk peeled his eyes away from the stockroom window and Lance long enough to mutter a drawn out “Oh my God” under his breath. The poor guy really couldn’t help himself; flirting was just a part of his heritage, he thought jokingly.

He went out with a handful of headphones and a phone to give to his own customer: a rather ordinary soccer dad who found his perfect family plan and decided to gift the accessories to his four children ranging from six to fifteen years old, with the tablet for his hard-working boss lady of a wife. The warranties for all items would cover a generous five years.

Hunk was eternally grateful, all he had to do was make about two hundred dollars extra this summer to take his stress away from the upcoming school quarter’s costs. Even with a full ride to Balmera U, it was always important to be prepared for emergencies.

“You’re a sharp kid, and a lifesaver.” The soccer dad gushed. “I hope that someday you manage this place after being here for a bit.”

“Thank you, sir.” Hunk smiled. “Means a lot to hear that.” He asked the man if there was anything else he could do to make his life easier, and the man opened his mouth to answer before a blaring horn interrupted them. The vein in his forehead was now pulsating as he wished Hunk a goodbye and a good summer while quickening his steps, the pulsing of his flip flops rushing out the door.

God bless that man.

“Sir, I thought she was your daughter!” His ears perked up to Lance’s sudden wails.

From what Hunk gathered, the man was chewing him out for flirting with the young lady with the orange hair and Lance was doing everything he could to remain the submerged professional.

“Harold!”

“To the car, Delilah!”

The man was the opposite of the beleaguered soccer dad; crisp pinstripe suit, a whole foot shorter than Hunk himself, and a full set of corporate cut blond hair. His shoulders were square with a posture that was evident that he bench-pressed daily.

Their boss, Sidney, emerged slowly from her office, but approached their situation with a sense of urgency wrapped in her swishing hips.

“This young man was selling something besides phones, I’m sure of it!”

“Did my associate touch you in an inappropriate way, ma’am?” Sidney inquired with a neutral resting face.

The girl, whose face was now plastered in redness, vehemently denied it and sprinkled apologies in a rapid-fire procession.

“Did he say anything that in anyway made you feel uncomfortable?”

“Not at all! I enjoyed every bit of him!”

“DELILAH!” the man’s voice boomed. Even without the heels, she could over tower that man easily. “Don’t embarrass me in front of this, this **kid**!”

Hunk continued to watch and cringed with compassion at Lance’s slightly ajar mouth and eyes swollen in terror. Other associates who were clocking in from their lunch breaks forwent asking Hunk what was going on and tuned into the action themselves.

“Just because she doesn’t mind doesn’t mean it’s fine by _me._ Got it?!” He jabbed a warning finger into the taller, thinner boy’s chest.

The girl stamped the floor with her clogged heels again as she struggled to keep up with her lightning-fast man. She gave Lance one final look in remorse and nearly stumbled out the door.

Sidney finally exhaled loudly. “Alright, crisis averted, for now. Lance, a word?”

He pressed his lips together anxiously as sweat started to stick to his lower back. Was he fired?

.* .* .* .* .

With fifteen minutes left until twelve nooen, Hunk and Lance made sure their drawers were counted and that all merchandise take-backs were in their proper place on the sales floor, for now.

“All in a hard day’s work.” Hunk smiled with satisfaction.

Those were the only words spoken between them for the remainder of their shift, because while his friend went about his normal closing tasks he was so quiet that Hunk could periodically and awkwardly hear the soft, wet click of his own swallows. As bad as he felt for his friend, that’s what happened when you got too comfortable on the clock.

When Sidney came back she pulled Hunk aside, which made his heart skip a beat after today’s incident.

“Yes, Sidney?”

“As long as you keep up what you’re doing, how would you like to be a permanent member of our team when the summer’s over?”

“It would be my honor to! If this isn’t hypothetical?”

“No, I’m seriously considering you. But our district manager would have to see you in action at some point, too. Just keep up the wonderful work, okay?”

Hunk’s heart swelled with pride. “Yes, ma’am!”

Now… to work out the logistics…

.* .* .* .* .

 **_James_ ** _: Do you need me over there to assist?_

 **_Rachel_ ** _: I’m @ Hunks today and his mom only wants me and the boys over there_

 **_James_ ** _: Why did I take a summer shift again?_

 **_Rachel_ ** _: b/c you’re bored and you need the $$$_

 **_James_ ** _: Is money really that important?_

 **_Rachel_ ** _: I don’t know is it??????_

 **_Rachel_ ** _: Friday’s here, though. Can’t wait for us to meet at five, it was five, right?_

 **_James_ ** _: When I see you next time, I’ll have a surprise :)_

 **_Rachel_ ** _: wanna give me some hints?_

“No, damn it!”

Rachel's six-year-old nephew started picking up a special “word” from the dance movie they were watching that was “supposed” to be kid-friendly.

“Silvio! That’s for grownups to say!” She scolded him sharply.

“He said it three times today!” Hunk’s nephew, Sam snitched as he scrolled on his multicolored tablet with a bright yellow case, one that reminded Rachel of one of those computers she used to play with to teach her sounds and numbers as a kid.

“Well, if I tell his _papá_ or one of his _tíos_ , I bet he won’t do it again, huh, Nadia?” he winked to Silvio’s sister who was two years younger than him.

“Yeah,” the little girl added, “Because last time he said a bad word in Spanish, and Tio Lance told him to stop, and that he was going to let Abuelita punish him!”

The only one not causing a commotion was Jessie, and she had been in her bedroom for twenty minutes now. She wanted to see what was up but leaving the kids alone at any time was touch and go today. But maybe they were just civil and settled enough for her to sneak and briefly check on the girl.

She whispered and bribed Sam to take notes of whoever was misbehaving and tiptoed swiftly up the stairs.

With three knocks to Jessie’s room, she waited.

“Jess, can I come in?”

“Yeah…”

When Rachel stepped in, she had to adjust her sight to how dimly lit everything was. The only source of light was strung above the girl’s bed in the form of amber-colored fairy lights and a little lamp of Lala, the beloved killer whale mascot of Lala Land.

“Whoa, feels hella cozy in here.”

“I’m making something really special for Lance… But I hope that he likes it. Having my curtains closed helps me to concentrate.”

“Whatcha looking at?”

“Tutorials for bentos.”

“Bentos?” Was she talking about one of those little lunch things that the schoolgirls on Sailor moon ate with the totally adorbs-looking food?

“Yeah. When I’m done, it’s gonna go into this thing.” From her stationary area the girl grabbed a rounded edge square plastic container with a blue lid that had a graphic of a rather cheery-looking anime shark on it. 

“What’s he gonna eat?”

“I want to make him some cookies.” The girl blushed a little. “I’ll make him something with sea animals on it because he really likes the ocean. And then I could put together some salmon croquettes Sam and I made earlier.”

“Might wanna throw in some veggies.” But Lance would practically _gag_ at squash, Rachel remembered. Jessie promised not to put in anything like that.

In the midst of her culinary drabble, the younger girl mentioned unsavorily that a boy she liked since third grade called her stupid recently and hung up on her. She cried for two days, then decided to shake it off.

“I know I’m not stupid, because I got five certificates at my fifth-grade promotion last week, so it’s whatever.”

“Wanna know a secret? When boys act like that, it’s literally because their brains are still growing, and puberty tends to suck for everyone."

“Are you saying hormones are responsible for boys acting so cuckoo bananas?”

“Exactly.” Rachel smiled, satisfied. “And you’re changing too, which is why you'll feel like you're having the best day ever one moment, and then like staying in bed and pretending the world doesn't exist the next. Whatever you do, just continue to find and do what makes you happy regardless. For me, it's dancing and listening to my club music even though I've never clubbed before."

“Have you ever been rejected?” Jessie allowed her screen to go blank before turning to face Rachel.

Rachel sat cross-legged on the floor a few feet from her and folded her hands on her lap. "Oh, yeah."

“How? You're so pretty and tall…like a Top Model or something!” Jessie’s face was washed in surprise, as if discovering unsavory gossip about one of her favorite celebrities.

Rachel laughed in modesty. “I didn’t start out this way…I was a little shrimp who got Veronica’s hand-me-downs, and my hair was always getting tangled in my combs. And I didn’t get my boobies until I was, like, fifteen.”

Freshman year, she blossomed. Though she inherited her mother’s bouncy, wavy hair with smooth skin and father’s height with rail thinness, it took her years to be comfortable with herself. And until the beginning of her junior year, she had stormed most of her preteen and teen years in delinquency and general self-loathing.

She was fawned over indeed; just not from those with ambition or a clue. No wonder that after a history of three boyfriends and one girlfriend, it made her nervous that some Garrison military school asshole with a heart of gold named James Griffin could ever be interested in her. And her nerves trembled more from the horror that she dug him right back…

“Where’d you go?”

“To Lala Land.” They both raised an eyebrow and glanced at the lamp on the adjacent dresser. "I wanna tell you a secret." Rachel found a stray pillow to cradle in her arms and decided to speak from a place that pretended she was Jessie's age, "I'm very nervous about my date. I think about having dinner with him and it makes me want to throw up."

"Is he ugly?"

"No way!" Rae flushed a little. "He's not even cute, though. He's like, _handsome_. And he's accomplished, but he's serious. Then he's, like such a goody-goody, and I-I can't!" She dropped her head.

"Pretend he's your friend or your brother, and not this guy you like. That might make things more comfortable."

"I'm probably so far gone, it won't work."

"Sorry." Jessie hung her head.

"The adult thing to do would be to talk to him...but I came to help _you_ out, so don't apologize."

“Thanks, Rae. I'll remember what you said..."

“Anytime.” She rolled her eyes at the tumultuous whining between Nadia and Sylvio downstairs. “Fate has summoned me, you'll come down when you're ready?”

Jessie nodded with a smile and continued her research.

.* .* .* .* .

By the time they got downstairs the key to the front door already sounded, and in came Hunk and Lance, looking like polar opposites of excited and subdued.

“What the heck is playing on TV?”

“Tía Rae found this movie with people dancing. There was this song that went like this!” Nadia tried to mimic some complex choreography but ended up bouncing around like a mini spinning top.

Lance managed to laugh and pick the girl up, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek. “Keep working on those moves, princess, and you’ll be a “supastar” in no time.”

“When Silvio was watching the movie with us he said a bad word.”

Lance perked up with a frown. “Say what? No, not our Silvio…”

He called the little boy, stopping him in his imaginary swordsman tracks. He sent Nadia back to the living room with Sam.

“What’s the deal, peanut? Why’s Nadia telling me you’re saying cuss words?”

The boy tucked his face into his shirt collar while rotating his upper body, which Lance was not having any of as he knelt to the boy’s level.

“Eyes up here, Silvio.” he motioned firmly by pointing to his own.

As large irises peaked out, a simple shrug of the shoulders followed.

“Look, you’re going to the first grade this year, right? Gotta start acting like a big boy and not like a little guppy, okay? Because Nadia and Sam are looking up to you as the oldest. That means you can’t use your power for bad.

“I’m sorry.” He uttered under his collar.

“What are you sorry for?”

“Sorry for using the “d” word, and for not listening.”

“Alright. Go finish watching the movie and tell _tía_ you’re sorry.”

The boy slunk away, then jogged back to the couch.

Hunk was getting an “itinerary” of what information Sam found. The five-year-old had bunches of pictures saved of spaceships and buildings, and of a Lego set that he wanted for Christmas. He had plans to build a house for one of Nadia’s dolls. He would “rent it out to her” whenever she came over to his house to play.

“What would you use the money for?”

“I don’t know. Maybe I’ll buy myself a 3D printer, that way I can print my own Legos!”

“That sounds like an amazing plan, buddy, but I’m gonna hold this for you so you don’t burn your eyes out.” He gently took the tablet from Sam.

“Burn my eyes out?” the boy’s voice broke in a whirlwind of panic.

“Yeah, like one of those old TV screens with the little antenna on top. They’ll spark out and people will keep having to hit you upside the head to see if you have a clear picture!”

“No! I’ll be useless!”

Hunk pressed chortles into his fist so as not to upset the boy more.

.* .* .* .* .

The McClain crew stayed for a couple more hours and watched an old Disney movie, “Treasure Planet.” Lance secretly gushed at the main character’s rebellious, adventurous demeanor. It reminded him so much of Keith. He whipped out his phone and paid only half attention to what his fingers were concocting with the keys.

 **_Lance:_ ** _Babe, wanna talk later tonight? Missing you and your beautiful face :*_

Send. And a notification about twenty seconds later.

 **_Hunk:_ ** _Why Lance, this is so sudden <3 Six years of friendship leading up to this? Got chills!_

Lance flushed. “Oh, shut up!” he whispered with a hiss, which caused Hunk to snicker at his expense. Okay, so Keith and Hunk were his muscle memory, and he mixed them up every now and then…

While the small kids were dreaming gently with the teens’ laps as makeshift pillows, all Rachel could do was dart daggers of interrogation at the boys with her eyes while joining in the text conversation.

 **_Rachel:_ ** what the hell?

 **_Hunk :_ ** _Lance thought I was Keith and texted me something muy romantico._

 **_Rachel:_ ** _you_ are a dork, gemelito.

 **_Lance:_ ** _And don’t tell her what it was._

 **_Rachel_ ** _: probably don’t wanna know._

 **_Lance:_ ** _It was PG, just in case your dirty imagination was going there…_

 **_Rachel:_ ** _ok, whatever :] tell keith I said ‘Hi’_

 **_Lance:_ ** _I will_

“Uncle Hunk, can we go bake while they’re sleep?” Jessie interrupted. 

“You mean, like cookies? I think we still have shortening...”

“Yeah.”

With careful maneuvering, the little ones managed to stay asleep on the couch with their own pillows and one large blanket covering them.

While Jessie gathered the ingredients, the three gathered around the kitchen island with the boys in a heap of post-work exhaustion.

“What happened to your date with _James_?” Lance drawled with a disgusted stretch of his tongue.

“It’s still on. I’ve got three hours.”

“Even though you spend half that time in the shower with your beauty routine?”

All the girl did was sigh and do a slight calculation in her head. She showered this morning, perhaps she could get away with skipping a day of hair washing for once. And her brother countered with the argument of why indulging in baths eliminated free radicals from her skin and pores.

“Maybe you guys should move to Oriande Hills and open a spa together. Call it _McClain Lane_. Lance could do skin care and Rachel could style hair.” Hunk said with a nonchalant shrug.

“Hey! Do you ever update your Instagram beauty page anymore?” Lance asked his sister sincerely.

“Only, like, once a week lately.” Now she had all summer to post about hair tutorials and makeup palettes to her heart’s content.

“Who’s picking who up?”

Rachel could already get a whiff of Lance’s animosity. “He is. And he always pays for our dates, even when I bring extra money on purpose! I happen to think he’s cool, and would it hurt for you to at least try to find something redeemable about him?”

“Nope, sorry. The Garrison ruined it for me.”

“Well, you’re not the one going out with him. You don’t ever hear me say anything trashy about Keith.”

That was because he was cool enough for the two of them. Keith could be stubborn, but he also had a certain flair for doing things his way, consequences be damned. _This alpha male current_ ran in his veins, but he used it without looking like he was trying to tread on somebody’s free will. At times there was also the sharpness of his wit that could cut you on a bad day. And a bonus: an unusual brew of otherworldly hotness with a masculine beauty that could bring a blush to Venus’s face.

Lance’s eyes drooped to the unanswered message dimmed on his messaging screen. Date nights on his ends were so sporadic and he learned to enjoy his boyfriend bonding over Facetime or simply with Keith’s voice caressing his cheek.

“Keith’s a pretty good person, very stand-up. He’s so hard on himself over finding the right words, but his actions never fail. Shay told me last week she received a bouquet of…mums, I think. Said that he stopped for a minute or two to give his condolences.”

“Wait.” Lance dragged the word out. “What color were they?”

“Purple.”

“Thank God!”

Rachel called Shay and gave her condolences earlier this week. “How’s is Shay holding up?”

“She was really close to her grandmother. In fact, she was her and her brother’s guardian, so that’s been really rough for her and her family.”

“I bet.” Lance murmured.

Suddenly Hunk put their synchronized lull of energy into words. "Sometimes I wish I could be Jessie's age again for, I don't know...a week."

"I'm starting to understand why Ronnie comes home and just sits sometimes..." Rachel uttered, pressing of her cheek against her knuckles.

Lance aimlessly leaned back and forth on the stool where he sat. "So... we’re actually, like, entry level adults now. I might need time to process about how I feel about that...wait I got it, it's **a** **frickin trap**!"

They were distracted from their slight melancholy as Jessie tumbled a mosaic of chocolate chips, sprinkles, candies, and ice cream toppings onto the counter. They each raised an eyebrow as their eyes glided to each other for some sort of unspoken answer as to what this child of theirs was doing.

“You’re not using all of those, are you?” Hunk scratched his chin.

“Just trying to weigh my options…okay, I got it! But Lance and Rae are gonna have to sit in the living room.”

“Sorry guys, little chef genius at work here. And as my protégé, she can't have distractions.”

“I’m not kicking you guys out or anything, just wanna surprise you!”

“No worries, you’ll probably come out with a masterpiece anyway.” Lance smiled, causing the girl to grin shyly.

Once uncle and niece were done experimenting in the kitchen, the McClain twins returned to find a Willy Wonka variety of cookies: chocolate chip, salted caramel drizzled, chewy sour patch kids, sugar frosted... no limits.

And for the rest of the afternoon, the kids who had a good nap before were now using the excess sugar by running around cartwheeling and playing tag in the backyard.

While the teens were on their phones, Jessie approached an unusually subdued Lance while he was lost in the shuffle of his music and his earbuds. He looked up to find Jessie tapping his shoulder with her other hand holding the bento box that she showed Rachel earlier.

“Oh my God! This, is like, the cutest thing ever?” Lance absorbed the artwork of the shark.

“Open it!” she chirped eagerly.

The boy gasped and did a little shuffle with his shoulders. “I’m feeling really spoiled right now, _really spoiled_.” He fawned at the cookies shaped like crabs and sharks, seafood croquettes drizzled with spicy mayonnaise, and some lettuce with cherry tomatoes that was meant to mimic sea flora and fauna.

The girl glanced back in excitement at Hunk and Rachel, who graded her effort with thumbs up and victory signs.

Lance sighed. “Seriously, Tiny. Thanks. This made my day.” He grinned earnestly.

.* .* .* .* .

Lance waited for the loading graphic on his Facetime to finally replace itself with a handsome face on the other end. He wasn’t quite ready to turn in for the night.

“ _Hey”._

“What’s up, hot stuff?”

Keith’s tranquil smile dissolved into a fit of giggles, and Lance twisted his nose at the sight.

_“I’m sorry. I’ve been up since midnight!” he slurred in an octave lower than his usual mid-range._

“Doing what?”

_“I told you I had this twenty-page final term paper for Anthropology, and then my dick of an Aerospace professor moved the final to five-o-clock in the evening. Finally, waited for an hour to talk to Financial Aid. All this while I’m trying to finish getting my entire apartment packed.”_

“Have you eaten?”

Keith’s eyes gravitated to the left. _“Yeah.”_

“Keith, I swear to God…”

The college boy’s voice broke two notes higher. _“I ate something…um…shit!”_

“Get a meal.” Lance commanded. “Before I start sending you some hand-me-downs from freshman year for you to wear!

_“I really need sleep more than anything.”_

“Keith…”

_“Alright! I promise. I’ll eat, then let the food coma carry me to sleep.”_

“Fine! Deal.” The sleepiness in Keith’s world-weary eyes drained the deep indigo wash to something more cobalt gray. He softened his voice, “Can I ask you something?”

“ _Shoot.”_

“Am I a flirt? Like, do I give off that impression?”

Keith answered with a resounding “ _yes._ ”

“Did you actually take time to think about your answer?” Lance responded to his bluntness with an angry pout. The guy had been up for nearly twenty four hours, but damn.

_“Yes, you are. Who did you piss off today?”_ Keith rolled his eyes like he did when jealousy seeped out.

Lance sighed and recounted his difficult part of the day where he was cussed out by this old, short ass guy for “flirting" with his much-younger wife. And about how he got off with a stern warning.

“ _Lance. One thing I realize about you is that you actually **like** people. Bastards like that guy will always think you have some ulterior motive_.”

“I guess.” Lance stiffened his lip, wishing that his self-disappointment would just go away already. He decided to trade in his negativity for more empathy for his boyfriend. “But enough about me, are you gonna do what you said?”

“ _Hey. I’ll be alright. Now let me go, so I can follow through with my promise, okay?_ ” his voice melted to a near-whisper.

“Alright, I’m holding you to that. Don’t disappoint me.”

_“I won’t. I love you.”_

It was at that moment, seconds after Lance hung up, that a fragment of his brain finally latched on to what Keith just revealed to him. And the rest of his body jolted and bounced around his room, riding with a fresh wave of giddy suspension crackling in his pounding heart. With his chest aching in sweet anticipation, he promptly redialed Keith like the green graphic on the phone led to Heaven’s gate.

But his calls went unanswered following their talk; even though they literally spoke five agonizingly long minutes ago.

“Aww, son of a bitch!” Lance wailed loudly enough to echo off the walls as he threw his phone on the bed, sealed his mouth with his hands, then subdued himself enough to peak out his room for any disturbed family members.

A sharp turn to the left and Veronica, Rachel, and Marco each flashed their respective angry slumber glares.

“What the HELL?!” Marco, his second oldest brother, uttered gruffly.

“Lance, it is literally the middle of the night.” Older sister Veronica enunciated sharply.

The lovesick lad, completely oblivious to their vexation, continued on beaming with his eyes sparkling and his mouth flashed into a large smile. He skipped jovially past them and turned around briefly to face them.

“Keith told me he loves me! And he won’t call me back!” he finally contorted himself in a childlike run that followed downstairs until the front door closed loudly. The three siblings ran to Rachel’s bedroom for a view from her window and spotted their brother skip-running down the block.

“The way he was acting, I thought he finally got a call-back for Wheel of Fortune or some shit.” Marco muttered in a sleepy stupor.

“I didn’t give him any drugs this time.” Rachel spoke.

“ _What_?” Veronica asked.

“Nothing. Just joking.”

.* .* .* .*.

The lukewarm cool of mid-June’s air suspended in the atmosphere did little to soothe the arousal of Lance’s heart, though it brought his body to a casual walking pace.

Just as he was beginning to go back inside, everyone’s favorite neighborhood cat came and inched to the boy, eyes squinting in soft scrutiny. His black stripes blended in with the opaqueness of the night as they rippled and painted his orange fur.

“Oh, hey Lionel.” He rose from the front step and pointed to the cat with his body pointed in the opposite direction. “Don’t move! I’ll be right back!”

A couple of minutes later, he returned with a plastic saucer of mashed sea bass. The cat tiptoed happily and started gobbling while he sat and observed.

“So I’ve been going out with this guy for, like, two and a half months.” Lance began talking to the cat, fully aware that the animal would not respond with head rocks and engaged cooing.” He’s smart, cool, and a _marshmallow_ in disguise.” He smiled with his cheeks a hue of red and concealed his mouth with a titter. “He told me he _loves me_!”

Lionel leapt on his lap and started kneading his paws in his thigh, prompting him to massage his fingers in the cat’s back.

Lance sighed, exploring the stars and allowing his thoughts to wander with the glimmer. “It’s so weird; I thought I would meet the one I love while studying or going grocery shopping or whatever. And to think that he seemed like such a jerk when we first met…”

The boy had always been a romantic, but it was a marvel to him that he developed a crush on Keith from the moment they met at the Commons billiards area. That their first kiss happened roughly twelve hours within knowing each other. Maybe they had been dating the entire time and combining the first, second, third date into one crazy day.

Keith had yet to give him cause for heartache and was not likely to play games. “He’s not returning my calls for some reason…”

The creature had made his bed under Lance’s hand and was curled into slumber.

.* .* .* .*.

Hunk got his direct deposit, at midnight. He slept on that with a cheerful countenance in his snore. And he woke even more so with the beautiful timbre of Shay’s voice sleepily talking to him.

They didn’t talk about her grandmother’s burial or her sadness; this time it was about dry winds persisting in Garrison valley and the sea breeze in Balmera where she lived, among many things. Basically, a tale of two cities scenario.

‘And you still want me to move in with you guys? What does your brother think?

“He’s warming up rapidly, especially seeing how supportive you’ve been of me.”

“Yeah, sweetheart, I know your grandmother said it was alright before she passed, but I don’t want to look like I’m taking advantage of you. And then there’s many things to factor back at my house…”

He heard his mother’s voice ringing him from downstairs and sleepily responded with a “huh?” No response. He called a little louder into the stubborn silence with a “yeah”?

Sighing harshly, he rolled his eyes and reluctantly told Shay he would call her back. With a grumble, he allowed his feet to touch the carpet before rising and shuffling out of his room.

He wiped the disgruntled look from his face before coming downstairs and received a “good morning” from the woman. The pungent fragrance of sage and vanilla coaxed him further into the kitchen area where breakfast was ready as usual, but that was not what the deal was. On the table was a continental breakfast: English muffins, eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, even porridge. Beneath the culinary haze he smelled a bribe.

“Are you busy today?” Hunk’s father suggested before sipping some coffee.

“No, not really.”

“Good, ‘cuz your mom and I are going out today. There’s a performance in Oriande Hills and we kinda need someone to sit tight with the little bits today.”

Hunk usually wasn’t one to say no, especially since he was off work today. “Yeah, no problem, daddio. They love me to pieces.”

The concert was of a reunion of older music performers, along with other eighties summertime artists performing at the Convention Center. Something that would make anyone in their late forties or fifties feel like careless teenagers again, except that they weren’t, bless their hearts. A venue like Oriande was just what performers needed to bring in top dollar. It was going to be crowded for traffic going from Santa Balmera and the Olkari Valley.

“Try to make sure that Sam doesn’t spend so much time on his tablet today. Maybe give him two hours max today. He needs to get outside and skip around in fresh air, something that will allow his little lungs to start pumping.”

“I might take them out for a movie or something fun at Kaltenecker’s Pizza Farm.”

“Hunk, we don’t have to hold you accountable for much. You’ve been responsible for as long as we can remember.” His mother revealed fondly.

The orange juice that he swallowed tasted much sweeter with the injection of his parents’ confidence.

.* .* .* .*.

Last night, Keith ignored Lance on purpose. It was to be expected after processing the words that he allowed to tumble carelessly from his mouth in a haze of fatigue and burn-out. He couldn't fall asleep after the onset of panic seized him enough to throw himself out the door, nearly forgetting to lock it as the oxygen seeped from his brain. He came back hours later with Chinese food, noticing nine missed calls from the boy, but strangely no messages.

He only spoke what he felt, but way too fast. They began dating in late April; barely two months! Was he desperate or something? Did Lance think he was way too eager? His brain screamed so loudly that his skull throbbed.

_Attention Zarkon Airline passengers. All flights 959 going outbound to Texas have been cancelled until Monday due to heavy storm activity. I repeat, all flights 959 outbound have been cancelled until Monday due to heavy wind and rain.”_

“Oh my God! Are you fucking kidding me right now?!” Keith excused himself promptly to a frowning mother of three sitting next to him.

With an enraged moan, he immediately got on the phone with his father and let him know exactly what was going on. The man gave him a little protective grief over his lack of a living arrangement, but somehow with a round of tenderness and a shot of concentrated conviction, he managed to put him and his mother at ease. Once they were calm, he said a prayer for them as well.

He started to send Lance a text but stopped himself, slumping slovenly in his chair.

.* .* .* .*.

_“…Feels like flying, can’t stop smiling, you’re the one I’ve been dreaming of…”_

While whipping together a salad and inspecting the main course in the oven, Lance hummed a melody that he hadn’t heard since his prepubescent days, when he shipped two animated cats and declared their coupledom goals. 

“Oh my God!” Rachel rolled her eyes with an involuntary smile as she started setting the table for herself and Lance, and for Sylvio and Nadia, who would be arriving soon. Her brother did not cease his crooning, and he managed to enthrall her into singing along with him. They continued a duet of musical ping-pong, ending with uncontrollable laughter.

“Geez, you guys are such geeks.” Their second oldest brother, Marco growled sleepily from the landing while rubbing his eyes.

“Why are you always in bed?” Rachel whined. “Did you get narcolepsy in Miami or something?”

“No, just like to catch up on sleep, like the overworked scholar I am. Also, jet-lagged.”

“Well I’m making dinner early anyways!” Lance sassed. “Sleep as much as you want.”

“Can’t do that, since you Double Mints decided to keep me up with your cheesy nostalgia howling.”

“Don’t hate because you sound like a cow in heat when you sing!” Lance shot back with a point of his spatula.

“You know what?” He threatened in a menacing pitch.

“ _Basta_ , Marco.” It was the soft, yet commandeering voice of their matriarch.

“I’m glad you’re cooking, _Leandro_. You and _Raya_ are on your own for meals today.” They only heard those versions of their names whenever their mother meant business.

“Hey, _mamí! Que linda_!” Rachel playfully twirled the little woman around by her hand. She was wearing a white silk blouse with tanned slacks and white espadrilles, adorning herself with bangles and her hair pulled back with bedazzled combs.

“Hunk’s padres begged me to go with them to this throwback concert, and once they told me who was going to be there, I took their extra tickets. I’m meeting your papá there so we can double date.”

“How romantic.” Lance cooed.

“You know, I had this dream that Lance was screaming in the middle of the night about having found the love of his life.”

“Fascinating…” Marco threw a taunting look to Lance. “Do tell mamá about your little boyfriend.”

“He and I took the next step last night.” Lance beamed to her.

“And you used protection, _verdad_?”

“Honestly, how does that even work?” Marco settled on the bottom of the step before rising and asking Rachel to set him an extra plate.

“Use your imagination, Marco.” Lance shot back, then became flustered, “Wait, never mind! DON’T use your imagination!”

“They didn’t do anything, Mamí. Keith told Lance he loved him.” Rachel assured her, serving herself food before passing it around.

She kissed her son on the forehead and squeezed his cheeks with joy at how happy she was for him, because she already adopted Keith without a doubt. Then she was out the door with a swift, but jovial _hasta anoche_.

“Yeah, they did nothing _face to face_.” Marco teased.

Lance turned to Rachel before his brother could see him sweat. “Soooo…How was date night, _Raya_?”

“Didn’t go.” She murmured while shuffling her salad with her fork.

“Why not?”

“Didn’t feel well last night. But we’re going to do something fun in about two hours or so.”

Facetime rung, and Lance’s hands scrambled so quickly to catch the signal that he fumbled it as it fell to the kitchen floor.

“Shit!”

Silvio and Nadia, who came in as their abuela rushed out, shared a shallow gasp and broke into a melodic harmony of “ooh’s” and bemoaned of their uncle using such strong language.

He got it just in the quick of time.

“Hey! Where did you go last night?!”

_“Sorry. My phone died, and then I died.”_ Keith appeared to have been at the airport for a good while now, dressed in a black grunge graphic tank with a gray skull cap and his raven hair pulled back in a ponytail. There were echoes of multiple conversations and of wandering strangers nearly drowning out his voice.

“Wanna elaborate your “death” for me?”

_“I went around the corner for take-out, ate, then once I hit the floor it was lights out.”_ He playfully fanned the air horizontally with his hand.

Lance was relieved that he took care of himself properly for once. But before he could reopen the subject to what was so effervescent on his own mind since last night, Keith finally confessed that he was stranded at Zarkon International due to a seasonal storm that was raging in Texas.

“That sucks. You’ve been waiting there that whole time for the flight and they just up and cancelled?!”

_“It blows, but what can you do?”_ Keith shrugged. He looked down with a twist of his mouth, “And I might have found out hours ago...”

Forgetting about family at the table, he rushed to the patio door to continue the conversation outside.

“Seriously, Keith?!” he breathed. “When does your flight take off?”

_“Not until Monday…”_

And if he had the bright idea of coming home (which was no longer an option), then he would have to hitchhike or something because he used the last of his money on the plane ticket and his motorcycle managed to make it home without him. All because he sent that there a day early before the storm put everything else on hold.

Lance sighed so hard his throat stung. “That’s it! I’m coming to get you!”

_“No, Lance!”_

“Yes, Keith! You’re going to be shacking with a bunch of other pissed off strangers, and it’ll be like the zombie apocalypse. And don’t think you’re not pretty enough to eat.”

 _“Really? Thank God TSA doesn’t allow knives, because I would be toast.”_ Keith rolled his eyes with a dry drawl.

“Okay, joking aside, what are you going to do?

_“Stay here for a few days and wait until the storm clears.”_

“No, you don’t!” Lance could feel his nerves strumming in his throat now.

_“Would you stop being so damn melodramatic?!”_

“Would you stop doing EVERYTHING by yourself?!” he blurted out, seized by sheer frustration.

Keith’s breathing hitched, gaze glossy with a shudder of someone severely scolded.

Lance uttered a petal soft apology after taking a deep breath.

“If you love me, the way you say you do, you’ll let me take care of you.”

Keith swallowed. _“Alright. We’ll do it your way. But don’t rush!”_

Before Lance opened his mouth to respond, the timbre of the doorbell interrupted and he crossed to the entryway.

“It’s Hunk.”

_“I wanna talk to him too.”_

Hunk was dressed in dark tan cargo shorts with a white T-shirt that said “I need Space” in Star Wars font. Once he stepped inside, he knew he heard Keith saying “hi” to him, but there was no one else nearby.

_“Right here, Hunk.”_ He laughed a little once the larger man looked at Lance’s phone screen.

“What’s up, man? Did you make it yet?”

And that’s what he wanted to talk to Hunk about. With his thick brows pressed in apprehension, he filled Hunk in on his situation, then asked for him to accompany Lance to the airport, mostly because he had the larger car. The airport was west of Oriande and twenty miles from the Arusian Pass.”

“Our parents are going to a concert in that direction.” Hunk said.

_“I feel way more comfortable with Lance being with you.”_

“Since when can I not take care of myself, Keith?!”

_“Lance, just trust me on this, I have this gut feeling, okay?”_

“But wait?” Lance turned to Hunk with his arms crossed. “Aren’t you supposed to be babysitting Sam and Jess today?”

“They’re already waiting in the car. We’re just gonna go to the airport, collect Keith, and come home, right?”

“Okay, I could leave the kids with Marco, then.” His conviction held so strong until a gruesome picture popped in his mind: the kids setting something on fire while Nadia gave Sylvio five fingers across the face for being a brat. And Marco upstairs hibernating during it all.

He did not expect Marco to shuffle out the kitchen.

“Yeah, keep the kids with me.” He insisted after giving a fist greeting to Hunk and turning to the phone to give Keith a “yo”.

“Hell no! I’m not letting you go all Snorlax on them!” He protested after making sure the children were not in earshot.

But Marco’s face rested into sobriety. “You seem to forget that I behave differently around children than I do with my Miami crew.”

“Is that so?”

Marco shrugged. “Maybe I’m not the best with our houseplants, but don’t count me out of the babysitting business just yet.”

Lance paced around mentally before eventually giving a shadow of a doubt that _maybe_ he could trust Marco. “Fine! I know they’ll tell me what happened!”

“Good. Now shoo, go rescue your princess from the castle already!” Marco waved him away.

Ignoring the gall Marco had to call Keith a “princess”, Lance had one more incentive to sweeten the pot. “Also, Griffin’s gonna show up soon, so this is _your_ chance to put him in the hot seat.” Lance smiled cheekily.

Marco smirked wickedly. “This actually sounds way more fun than it already did. Thanks, _hermanito_!”

He mumbled a quick “your welcome” and dashed upstairs to grab his wallet. Rapid footstep sounds drummed in an ascending pattern from the ceiling above, then descended until crashing to a large thump with Lance yelping.

Marco bent into laughter. “What the hell happened?”

“Nearly broke my neck and changed Keith’s destiny for tonight. By the way, just remembered Ronnie left town for business. Won’t be back until eleven or so.”

“Alright. Play the good uncle, make sure kids don’t start an apocalypse. Gotcha!”

Lance commanded Silvio and Nadia to be good kids for their Tío Marco and rushed out the door with Hunk.

“We’re on our way, Keith. Just sit tight!”

* * *


	2. "You have Got to Be S**tin' Me!"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith's impulsive nature invites a new addition to his life.  
> First impressions of Oriande Hills are thrilling, to say the least...  
> Griffin visits Rachel at home, but everything becomes tricky with Marco involved...

It would probably take them two hours minimum to get here, Keith thought. With traffic being congested from every which way, there was no way it was going to take any less.

And Lance was unusually accommodating today. Keith was at an _airport_ , not a hospital!

_If you love me, the way you say you do, you’ll let me take care of you._

 _“_ Oh. Right. I actually told him _.”_ Keith’s aggravation simmered to a well-worn humility.

He fingered his knife pendant, exploring the indentations and shape of the metal. It never left his neck, unless he showered. And though he did not indulge in this purchase with his own money, it was from someone who held him dear and allowed him to be who he was, which was the biggest gift of all. 

And he did love Lance. Letting down his guard was his gift to him, he realized. No need for defense mechanisms, or for pretending those words were a result of a fever dream.

According to his clock, it was four thirty on the dot. Far away from the echo of his old apartment and the energy that he made with Lance together while they played house for the few Saturday nights he spent with him. Nothing ever occurred beyond the occasional make-out or movie session. 

“Don’t cry for me, Argentina. I’ll be visiting you and your family soon. So, if you find this tape in person, that means we’re having a cookout.”

A stranger sitting next to him ended his video with a smile, a dimple flashing to his cheek for only a split second before disappearing back into a face fixed with straight lips and a slight frown. He reminded Keith of someone from the military; broad shoulders with a torso that made his dark green shirt look well-worn, deep earth-toned cheekbones stoic with youth, and a flourish of short dreads framing the top of a buzzed undercut.

Keith pondered on the possibility of starting a conversation with the stranger, as bothered as he looked. They could possibly bitch up a storm over how irritating nature and airports were. Perhaps exchange stories of how their days were going.

That remained a mere thought for now as he opened his playlist of nineties alternative rock and leaned back with a heavy sigh.

A bark vibrated to the left of him, a shrill yet happy bark that charmed him towards the source. There was a swarm of young teens surrounding the creature, ranging from about ages twelve to fourteen. They were hunched over it and speaking with the sweetest of words.

But growls erupted, small yet throaty, and one of them nearly hit the animal's stomach with his foot.

“Hey!”

He paused his music and stormed over to the scene of potential animal cruelty. Keith thought nothing of demanding for the group of youths to clear out.

“How would you like it if you saw someone as a threat, and they decided to _kick you_ in the stomach?” 

“He growled at my girlfriend! Had to send it a message before it could get loose and tear us apart.” The teen rocked his head defiantly, shooting a weighted glare at the animal who was nothing more than a puppy.

“Yeah, real smart. Kicking the hornet's nest...” Keith flashed a furious look at the young man.

He knelt on one knee and pulled a strip of beef jerky from his messenger bag, unwrapping it gently while coaxing the animal. He steadied his breathing until the muscles in his back and shoulders softened.

The animal, who looked like a husky or similar breed, lifted his head and walked over to sniff the article before taking a bite. These kids were lucky... 

Keith reached his hand to the canine's head and petted him gently before feeding him the rest. For good measure, he whispered to the pup to put it at ease. The kids, who were now a few feet away from him watched in pure astonishment.

“He seems to like you.”

“Luckily for me...”

Keith inspected the pup's neck for a tag or a faint patch where he might have been chipped, but nothing came up. There was not the slightest clue of ownership, except that his blackish-blue fur was impeccably well-kept. There were white lines on the top of his head that made a trident branching to his cheeks and top of his muzzle. Keith squinted at scleras that were yellow...

“Step away from the animal.”

Someone that looked like he worked with the local pound motioned with his net for everyone in the dog's hemisphere to move. He wore blue slacks with a white button-down, and had a badge pinned to him that said _Oriande_ _City Pound_.

“You're not going to take him.” Keith rose, shoulders squared and hands relaxed by his sides.

“This airline called-”

“He belongs to me.”

Keith could feel the man's eyes burning him for any semblance of the truth, head moving from him to the mild-mannered dog that he just disarmed.

“Be sure to get a leash for him. And he's to stay with you from here on out, got it? It's common law.”

“Understood.”

After a few minutes, Keith exhaled and fell to his knees, causing the creature to inch closer to him. It sniffed his hands for some more food. With a sigh he searched his bag for another piece of jerky or even some bread that the animal could enjoy. 

“Here.” He smiled and ripped open a packet of chicken jerky that he was saving for his flight, but he figured that he would be fine as long as the animal was satiated. At least he was gaining his trust in the span of a few minutes.

As his gaze lifted from the affectionate magnet of the creature, the man that was sitting next to him a moment ago had a much more softened countenance while he looked in Keith's direction.

.* .* .* .* .

Oriande Hills appeared as it did on TV in the middle of a lazy weekday afternoon. Beautiful stick thins with their accessories, living or otherwise, tiptoed in the spotlight of the midday sun emitting an air of “look at me”.

Everyone except Hunk was marveling about with their eyes splashed onto the sun-drenched streets. Several brands that Lance had seen represented on countless beauty channels were standing on corners like obelisks unaware of their influence.

“Everyone looks so glamorous.” Jessie peered out the window with her cheek resting against her palm.

“One of those suits would cost me my entire paycheck…” Lance noticed a man flaunting tweed with a neutral-tone bow tie.

“Wealth…” Hunk had yet to see a regular old run-of-the-mill store in sight, or a reason why his friend in the passenger seat could not compose himself.

But Lance kept darting between his seat and halfway out of his window gathering snaps of marble buildings, sexy sirens, and every swatch of fabric known to man.

“Do a lot of rich people live here?” Sam asked genuinely.

“Do they _live_ here?!” Lance whipped to face him with such sweet pity in his heart. “They _made_ this city! All the beautiful, impeccably-dressed, and _well-fit_ …” And his attention was hooked away yet again by a clique of males and females clad in workout gear.

Jessie squealed a well-projected “Oh My God” and pointed upward, much to the panic of Lance and Hunk. Behind a stray department store was a billboard with an ethereal figure wearing a three-layered evening dress with a strap that hung off her shoulder as she teasingly looked from behind. Her deep earth-toned skin glowed with the sunlight and her starlight pale hair curtained freely down her back.

“You think we could see her?!” Lance asked in awe.

“I doubt she’s allowed to just wander Oriande Hills like a commoner.” Hunk frowned.

“ _I know that!_ I mean, like, could it be possible to spot her in the middle of a photo shoot or something?”

For the next ten minutes it was as if a team of paparazzi had infiltrated Hunk’s van, and thank God there were no flashing lights.

POP!

The car jolted and jostled the passengers inside with Jessie and Sam crying out.

Hunk wailed with the rapid rise of fear gushing to his stomach.

As the warning light turned on in Hunk’s gauge, he exhaled and made a sharp right. “Okay, hold on you guys.”

“Couldn’t be a flat tire…” Lance scratched his head.

“And _that’s_ what worries me.” Hunk shot him a sideways look.

There had to be a nearby gas station or car garage on a corner somewhere. With dusk approaching rather quickly, he did not have time to drive around all day. He was not fond of that loud sound at all.

After Lance directed Hunk to a gas station further east, he settled into a parking space marked “For Pearl Stop customers only".

Soon, they were standing around the poor vehicle as it smoked.

“We’re in big trouble, aren’t we?” Jessie rubbed her arm and swayed a little.

“How long have you guys had this car?” Lance raised an eyebrow in condolence of the overheated vehicle. The car had been in the family since _at least_ the first year of his friendship with the boy.

“Standing around really isn’t necessary guys.” Hunk gritted his teeth as he popped open the hood.

Lance asked if there was anything he could do to help, receiving a slightly frazzled “anything but what you’re doing right now.” He waved his hand for the kids to follow him, stopping when they both became transfixed at the gas station dome shaped like a hexagonal hood of circles and sheet metal.

“Are we in a spaceship?” Sam asked with his mouth wide opened.

The answer was “yes”.

.* .* .* .* .

A bouquet of roses. Pink roses. Those shouldn’t be too overbearing. After taking his Grandmother’s advice over the phone, that’s what Griffin decided on.

While in a weekend getup of relaxed blue jeans and a light blue buttoned-collar t-shirt, James felt ready for yet another casual hangout with his…

Before he could think about the question that was toying with his brain on the drive up here, the door to the McClain household cracked open and a man with a face that reminded him of Shaggy from Scooby Doo peered out.

“Hi, is Rachel home?”

“Who wants to know?” he tilted his mouth with a glimpse of the bouquet in Griffin's hand.

“I’m James Griffin.”

After taking a minute to blink, the young man smirked mysteriously and stepped aside. Griffin was sure this had to be Marco. Much too youthful-looking to be Luis, but with a slouch that could easily belie an exhausted parent.

“ _My man_. Welcome to the McClain house. Make yourself at home.”

“You must be Marco.”

The two young men shook hands and before James knew it, he was following the scent of basil. Marco gave him a place to sit at the kitchen table while Rachel and two small children were eyeing him like an initiation of some sort. The little boy had a medium mop of chestnut hair on his head, a contrast to the little girl’s darker, longer hair pulled into pigtails. _Silvio and Nadia,_ he remembered.

Rachel was rather casual in a burgundy wrap midriff with her long, bouncy hair pulled back in a ponytail. Something about her looked more fresh-faced than usual today.

“Thank you, James. They’re really beautiful.” She sipped her water with heat crawling to her face, the beautiful vase a centerpiece for dinner.

“This is good. Really good.” Complimenting the pasta dish was a start.

“Lance made it before he and Hunk left.” Rachel smirked with a cheeky eyebrow raise. The family decided to get seconds upon learning of his arrival.

Griffin cleared his throat, clearing a path for the peppercorn that attacked him as he swallowed.

“Don’t fret. He’s not the kind of monster to go and poison food to spite one person.” Marco teased as he pushed a glass of water in his direction.

He thanked him after taking a few sips.

“You ate too fast, didn’t you?” Nadia wagged her small finger at him.

“I guess I did…”

The only noise defying the silence was that of scraping forks and moving cups. James blew air on another fork of pasta softly and put it into his mouth. He froze when he caught Silvio's eyes locked into every action he took.

“Mr. Griffin, you don’t blow _that_ hard.” He revealed innocently.

“What?”

Marco choked on his food with a chuckle and covered his mouth before anything could seep out.

Rachel gasped and touched her nephew’s arm lightly. “Who told you he did?”

“I heard _Tío_ Lance…”

“Never mind.” She drawled with an eye roll, sneaking a swift kick in the shins to her childish ass brother.

Date night. With kids. And an older brother he swore was lasering him closely. James would have easily settled for the predictable dinner and a movie for God’s sake.

Rachel could steam coming from this poor sap. Time to change up the tempo a little.

“Okay, we’ll have some ice cream since you guys ate your vegetables." She looked at her niece and nephew. "Pick any movie you want to see.”

“ _Ninjago_!” Silvio voted with gusto.

“No, I wanna see _Step_ _Up_!” Nadia whined, objecting by rising from her chair.

Their aunt rolled her eyes, reminding them that they would get to choose from five movies that they _haven't_ seen yet. She asked James what he preferred the kids call him, and all he attempted was a weak shrug. She mentally facepalmed.

“Let Mr. Griffin choose a movie. Cuz he’s a guest.” Nadia had her hands folded in front of her like a dainty host, smiling at the visually stiffened young man. “We could show you what we have, it’s quite a selection!” Nadia took his hand hostage and was pulling him in the family room before Rachel could respond.

“Is he your boyfriend, _Tía_?” Silvio’s small forehead furrowed with the scrutiny of an undercover spy.

With a happy grimace, she simply told her nephew that he was her “date.” She sent Silvio to be excused after putting his plate in the sink, then started doing dishes while the kids treated her date like one of her friends; arguing over who got his attention first.

With an amused warble, Marco slid next to her. “So, you’re playing patty cake with someone Lance has not been able to stand since…is it now _three years_ that guy’s been a junior officer? What have you got to say for yourself, _hermanita?_ ”

“How’s that jet-lag coming along, huh?” She murmured to him with a more abrasive scrub from her soapy brush.

“So much better, thanks for asking.”

“And you don’t have plans, or any chicks you wanna pay to star as your leading lady? Better get some use out of that degree...”

Marco seized his heart with a playful hiss. “Ah, thou hast wounded me, dear sister. You wait until you see the name Marco McClain on the playbill. Only got two more years of academic sweat before the real world clamors for me.” Even after Rachel rinsed off the last pan, he placed his dish in the sink last minute.

“Seriously, _cabrón_?

“I’ll go see how he’s holding up, considering that I can hear a shallow _scream_ when I look into his eyes.” With a cheek-wide smirk, he turned around and said. “Might not be so great with kids, I’m just saying.”

Rachel sure wished she didn’t complain about him sleeping so damn much before.

.* .* .* .* .

“Oh my God! Look at all the junk here!” Jessie playfully draped her body over a display of chocolate and started baby-talking them.

All Sam could do was tap his foot until he bellowed for his sister to move already, demanding to see those “rainbow brownie things” on the shelf below.

“Hey!”

Both kids froze at the volume of Lance’s voice, though all he did was ask them to come over and look at a fancy signature framed with a collection of other memorabilia. Most of it was from an era before the three of them were born. From their generation: an autographed photo of Allura.

“How can someone’s handwriting be this pretty?”

To Lance it was like a singer had signed it, with thin pen streaks of an eloquent letter "A" next to the barely legible remainder of her name. There was a picture of her with who must have been the owner enjoying a slushy while posed with her deep berry lips barely on the straw.

“I wanna learn how to draw my name when I get older.” Sam declared.

Lance asked Jessie if they taught cursive in school anymore. But the girl had no idea what cursive was until Lance pointed it out. He was starting to feel hecka old.

“I gotta get a video of this so my friends don’t think I made this up.”

As Jessie started taping with her phone, a gruff woman's voice barked loudly from the counter for her to put the camera away. Jessie stammered an apology and shoved the phone in the pocket of her overalls.

“We don’t allow that in this store.” She explained curtly.

Anger with the pressure of mercury in a thermometer crashed through Lance’s chest and hit the base of his skull, “You didn’t have to yell at her!” He threw his hands on his hips.

“Well those are the rules.” She persisted.

He pointed sharply to the display. “You know, lady, you could always make a sign with nice, big print instead! That way people will actually _know_ what not to do!”

“I don’t have time to take crap from a smart aleck teenager, you got it?!”

Before Lance could break out his mental dictionary of colorful words to put that bitch in her place, he demanded that Jessie and Sam give him their snacks and sent them to check on their uncle. Once they were gone, he continued calmly instead.

“That little girl you yelled at? She really likes Allura Altea and all she wanted was something to show off to her friends.”

“I don’t like what I’m sensing on this floor.” A tall gentleman built like a truck with the tenor of Foghorn Leghorn strolled from the store’s entrance. He donned a navy-blue pair of slacks with a canary-yellow polo and what had to be a beautiful diamond Rolex. His feet were fitted with Oxford-style loafers.

As the horrid woman began to explain herself, the gentleman held up his hand and turned immediately to Lance. “Tell me what happened from your point of view, son.”

Lance recalled how the woman in the Thrift store-styled floral top yelled at Jessie and how they had no clue pictures were not allowed. No apology or anything.

“Margaret is right. And you would’ve known that if there had been another sign printed out before opening hours.” He narrowed his eyes at Margaret, who gulped with her head tilted.

Lance flung out his palms and rung his hips, while showcasing the composed man. “See?! _This_ guy has common sense _and_ decency!”

“Young man, what’s your name?

Lance gave him his first and last name, just in case legal stuff happened.

“I want to make it up to you and the young lady. Sweetheart, please come in.”

Lance was confused until Jessie walked inside with a blush on her cheeks, evidently busted in the middle of eavesdropping. She had her hands folded in front of her as she went to his side.

“First of all, let me introduce myself to the both of you. My name is Earl Gardner, the sole proprietor of this and other Pearl Stops around the nation. You guys probably have seen my picture of me with the beautiful young model, huh?”

“Whoa!” Something in Lance’s brain clicked in that moment.

“It _is_ you!” Jessie bounced.

I want to apologize formally for this misunderstanding, and especially to you…”

“Jessie"

“Jessie. We have a policy of treating ourselves and our customers with respect, regardless of how young they are. And you did not receive that today. So, is it okay if I get a picture with the two of you to put into my showcase?

“Are you kidding? That would be lit!” Lance settled down after looking at the questions swimming around in Jessie’s brain. “Provided she’s comfortable with it.”

“Can my baby brother and uncle take one too?”

So, “making it up to them” began after Margaret was promptly sent to her lunch break. Jessie sprinted happily to go get Hunk and Sam for the five minute group photo, courtesy of a self-snapping camera that captured the five of them flawlessly.

Then came the really fun part:

“Alright, you each have thirty seconds to choose anything you want for free. It’s all my treat. The catch is that anything that falls from you after the timer, is _not.”_

“You mean we have a golden opportunity to clean you out? I don’t know…” Hunk folded one hand on his hip while scanning everything. Chips and other snacks were fair game. But then he factored in the a la carte items, the frozen slush machine…

As if reading his thoughts, Mr. Gardner answered him with a sympathetic, “You can try.”

“How are we gonna carry everything?” Sam asked Jessie.

“With our shirts and shoes.” She giggled.

“Right…” Sam frowned with an endearing pout.

Alright, kids! Young men! Go!”

Even if there was a well formulated plan to grab the goodies, it would have fallen apart the moment the kids started slipping and sliding on the soles of their feet. Or the moment Hunk got his T-shirt hooked on a corner of a rack. Luckily Lance was there to rescue him as they continued promptly to the slush machine, leaving the kids to jovially grab fistfuls of everything with their hands, necks, and other places in pockets.

During his momentary crisis, Hunk kept rapidly pushing the button machine, much to Lance’s ire.

“ **Hold** the damn button!” Lance barked.

“Won’t that take longer?” Hunk yelled back.

“It’s supposed to make it come out faster!”

“Twenty seconds!” Mr. Gardner announced.

Both boys reflected panicked gasps and continued to do more filling and less talking.

“Get some more grape, Lance!”

“ _Nobody_ likes **grape**!” Lance bore into him as he absorbed such blasphemy coming from his friend’s mouth.

.* .* .* .* .

“Who’s up for selling some of _this_ and making a profit?” Lance smirked with a waggle of his brows.

“Or we can keep it all to ourselves for when an earthquake hits, or when the transmission is all messed up and we need to get our shit fixed.” Hunk sighed gloomily.

Lance patted the larger boy’s shoulder. “But aren’t you glad an angel sent that man?”

The four of them were padded with junk food and some other items that they could buy without an ID. The young men had at least a few trays of four slushies stacked intricately on top of each other and secured with a long trash bag. 

“If we never see that lady again, we’ll know why.” Jessie sassed.

“Yeah, she’s most definitely demoted. Probably foresaw her own future.” Lance brushed off his sleeves.

As for the car, Mr. Gardner offered to pay for the new transmission as well.

“Why don’t we ask the aliens in that spaceship to come hold some stuff? “Sam asked innocently, teetering over slightly.

“Because they’re on their lunch break, buddy.” Hunk humored him.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have a wonderful week!


	3. "I'm Still In Control!"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rather than wait around for hours to get their beloved car fixed, Lance, Hunk, Jessie, and Sam decide to explore Oriande Hills on foot, with an elaborate toy store being their first stop.  
> Keith introduces his wolf pup to his friends with mixed results, but at least he's becoming acquaintances with the stranger sitting next to him.  
> Griffin will see another dynamic to the McClain family soon, mostly due to an about-face from Marco.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Birthday, Lance!  
> I'm still working slowly but surely on this, and I'm realizing that I generally do much better when I got my own little schedule going on.  
> Please let me know what you think about this version of the story, I'm not even halfway done with this :D

They had a cooler in the trunk. A rather large cooler that could probably carry a body of a large animal.

“I think a bunch of this stuff could fit snugly enough in there…” Hunk pondered.

“We really outdid ourselves, gang.” Lance threw his hands on his hips, self-satisfied as always.

“Don’t we need ice for that?” Sam questioned.

“God damn it!” Lance clamped a hand over his mouth and ruffled Sam’s hair in apology. He spun back around stomping to the store, with Jessie eagerly volunteering to assist him in any way.

Three minutes later, they emerged with two large bags of ice and Jessie was holding hers for dear life while nearly teetering over in the parking lot.

“I’ll take that, little lady.” Lance smiled with pity as he threw it on his shoulder.

With the heat of today slowly burning off, ice and snacks were safely stowed just in time for the tow truck to come and take the party away.

“I appreciate you, buddy.” Hunk patted him on the back.

.* .* .* .* .

“Where did you learn to wolf whisper?” The young passenger who sat next to Keith asked, clearly out of amazement.

And Keith discerned that the animal was a wolf, as evident by his yellow sclera and longer-than-average paws on a puppy.

“I worked at a wolf kennel over the summer one year. My relatives who live on a reservation taught me how to communicate with large dogs and wolves.”

Keith remembered those days when he would volunteer with family members from his mother's side. It was there instead of summer school to make up for a year of delinquency and general disregard for academic citizenship. Every day it was waking up at dawn doing chores despite heat from several yesterdays lingering. Sweeping, feeding, and learning the lost art of temperance among animals that could snap your entrails from your body if they saw you as a threat or prey.

“That reminds me of a reservation my friends and I visited from our tour of Iraq.”

The man told Keith a story about how two of his friends were suffering from mild PTSD, and how their entire team enlisted into therapy as a gesture of solidarity. The place was a rehabilitation center for those who had emotional and mental trauma. There were wolves there who were domesticated and behaved more like large dogs while retaining their more feral characteristics like howling. 

“Can’t remember the city…it was somewhere West of here…”

Keith responded with a simple hum. The man could not have been older than his early twenties. He spoke of that part of his life with slight apathetic undertones as if ready to move on to the next phase.

“What branch?”

“Army.”

“My mom worked for a non-profit food bank that supported veterans, but she retired when I started high school.” Something in him almost spilled his guts of her illness, but this guy was still a stranger, so he shelved that for now.

“Ryan Kinkade.” The man held out his hand in a welcoming gesture.

“Keith Kogane.” He returned it with a firm handshake.

“This guy chose you.”

“Yeah. And he’s just a baby…”

“So, what’re you gonna name him?”

A sound came from Keith’s mouth, but nothing sounding like a name. “No idea.” He shrugged with cluelessness twisting his lips. As his phone vibrated in his pocket, he excused himself to check the latest.

A picture of an ice cooler from Hunk’s truck, filled with an entire pantry’s worth of snacks and other food. A faint caption overlay that read “Look what Heaven bestowed upon us.”

“What the?!” Keith’s pupils shrunk with a drawl from his tongue.

.* .* .* .* .

Without air conditioning or control of their own wheels, all Hunk could do was allow the truck to carry them while enjoying meal time from ten feet in the air.

“Twinkie me.” Lance scooped his hand from behind his seat.

Sam dug into the smaller bag and gave him the small cake, along with a surprise juice pack. 

“Hey, Jess.” Hunk turned around. “Got anymore of those chicken sandwiches?”

“I think I grabbed one for each of us to enjoy for now.” she said while tossing the sandwiches to them like they were going out of stock.

“Look, no hands!” Hunk jokingly waved as he started squeezing mayonnaise on his bun.

Sam stretched his tiny arms out as if soaring. “It’s like we’re on that flying car from Harry Potter!”

The three of them exchanged scheming winks before deciding to silently get into character. Jessie gasped and tilted her head happily, “And _how_ did you know we were in one?”

“It just felt like a guess…wait, we’re really in one?!”

Hunk smiled and leaned back leisurely. “Oh, yeah! Can’t you see my hands _not_ touching the steering wheel?”

The little boy looked like he had woken up from one dream and found himself happily stirring in another. There was an unbending smile frozen to his cheeks.

Facetime rang for Lance.

“Yes?” he beamed.

_“Do you expect me to believe somebody gave you all that?”_

“You’ve heard of a kind soul name Earl Gardner, right?”

His boyfriend squinted confusingly with one eye, clearly having not a _clue_.

“He’s the owner of all those Pearl Stop chain stores across the nation?”

_“No way!_ _What did you guys win a door prize?”_

“Jess and I were treated poorly by the lady at checkout, our man checked the bitch, and made it up to us by letting us ransack the place with thirty seconds on a timer.”

_“Sounds like enough to feed the homeless in East Oriande.”_ Keith bestowed a look to Lance that was glimmering with civic softness and maybe a slight push in that intense indigo haze.

“True.”

Sam continued carrying on excitedly about being able to ride on in a flying car, with Jessie still playing along with him.

_“Flying car?”_

“Yeah, like in Harry Potter.” Lance smiled fondly.

Keith’s face slowly hardened into something blank. “Never seen it.”

Lance’s eyes bugged out as his mouth dropped to his chin, while everyone else in the car followed suit in a deafening fog of disbelief. He managed to turn his head to face Hunk. “Please talk to this man before I burst a blood vessel.”

 _“Hunk, how are you… **why** aren’t your hands on the steering wheel?” _Keith now looked like _he_ was about to have a heart attack.

“Relax, man. We’re being towed because the transmission just went out.”

Keith sighed and folded his arms tightly to his chest. _“Yet you’re telling me to relax…_ ”

“But Mr. Gardner insisted on paying for this, too. It’s like a God simulator dropped him down from the sky or something.”

“ _Well, I’m still gonna be here.”_ Keith said calmly, but Lance detected that beleaguered drawl at the tip of his tongue that he tried to hide when he wanted to be gracious.

“Don’t worry your pretty little head, we’re still on our way.”

_“Like I said, don’t rush.”_ He glanced downward as a sudden rush of hiccups projected from his lap.

“You got indigestion, man?” Hunk frowned with a raise of his brow.

Keith mumbled an untrue “yeah” and decided that he would talk to them later. The call was over.

Hunk and Lance exchanged side-eyed glances framed with frowns of suspicion.

.* .* .* .*.

At the car garage, the young men listened while Mr. Gardner discussed the implications of what would have happened had they drove around much longer with their problem. Hunk drew a breath and cracked open a can of root beer, sipping like it was a can of actual beer. He absorbed everything like a good young adult should, because there would come a time in the hopefully far, far away future where they would not have Mr. Gardner picking up the tab.

“If I hadn’t caught these gentlemen before they started taking off again, they would probably be stranded somewhere on the outskirts or something.” Mr. Gardner rubbed his pen across the dotted line, finalizing paperwork.

“Being stranded is not my favorite thing to do, like, at all.” Hunk loosened his orange bandana and started dabbing his forehead from the humidity gathering in the place.

“So…water is bad? Because water makes metal brittle and turns it into rubble.” Lance took off his cap and started fanning his face with the bib.

Jessie came out of the much cooler waiting room and told the boys that Sam had to use the bathroom.

“Turn right, knock first. Bathroom’s on the right.” The owner directed.

With a meek thanks, the two kids were on their way.

“It’ll take a few hours to get it replaced.” They would receive a text or phone call to come get them. In the first ten minute they waited, they were more than eager to get back in touch with Keith.

“Umm, Keith. I’m calling you out, man. You can’t honestly tell me that hiccup was _human_ let alone _you.”_

_“Didn’t hallucinate.”_ He lowered his lap to a baby animal sleeping.

“So…you smuggled a baby coyote and now you’re just gonna adopt it as your little bambino?” Lance frowned. 

“ _It’s might be a wolf hybrid...”_

Of course, it made sense in Keith’s world. He could adopt the mangiest of animals and treat them like human infants. It was something that blew Lance’s mind and rocked his world, honestly. He remembered what Keith told him about spending the summer with his relatives and becoming the great wolf whisperer. But what wild animal was ever that predictable?

“No parents wandering the surrounding area wondering where their baby is?” Hunk introduced.

_“Not that I know of. The whole airport would’ve been on alert.”_

Lance chimed in, “Okay, _Mowgli_. What happens when he grows up and decides that he wants to be the alpha? What then?”

“ _I don’t know, Lance! I’m just dealing with what’s in front of me right now_!”

Lance replaced his snapback after smoothing out the medium strands of bangs matted to his forehead. “I know you well enough! He’s gonna stay with you because you’re a lovable guy. A lovable guy who jumps in with both feet while screwing the small but _very_ important details.

And Lance was rattling off other examples of animals betraying their owners. One of the guys from Sigmund and Roy sustaining an injury because his own tiger just up and decided he was going to maul him. Or that movie where Will Smith had to kill his own dog because she succumbed to an airborne virus? More commonly, _pit bulls_ eating their owner’s faces and going for the rest!

“Remember that cool Australian guy that was killed by a jellyfish?”

Both Hunk and Keith corrected him with “stingray”.

Lance only confirmed what they said with a shrug.

“Look, I don’t wanna come from classes one day to visit you and find your face literally on the floor because your coyote had a temper tantrum!” He simmered his voice to a low tone,” You mark my words, mister: IF that **ever** happens, I’m gonna walk right up to your corpse, look you in your meaty eye socket and say, “I told you so.”

Keith’s huffed as he and Hunk exchanged mocking frowns in response to their friend’s flamboyant PSA.

“And he calls _you_ the emo one.” The larger boy uttered.

_“Lance, you’re worrying way too much.”_ Keith then hummed to the pup who was howling choppily.

“You understand what he’s saying?”

_“Yes. He says to stop calling him a coyote.”_

Lance deadpanned. “Seriously, babe, what even is the difference?”

“ _Coyotes don’t howl and are usually lighter in weight_.” A mysterious voice off the side chimed in.

_“Thank you, Ryan.”_ Keith drawled in relief.

Lance demanded to see who the hell “Ryan” was, but Keith first asked the mysterious stranger if he wanted to say “hi” to his friends.

_“This is Ryan Kinkade. Ryan, this is my boyfriend, Lance and our best friend, Hunk.”_

Hunk was ever so gracious with a simple “nice to meet you, man.” But Lance choked back the envious urge to comment on how utterly sexy this guy was with his ripped jeans, military arms and calm demeanor.

“Hey, man I-I like your shirt.”

Apparently, Hunk notice what Lance did not, which was Keith’s signature eye roll at how transparent the boy was being right now.

_“Gotta go. Let me know when anything changes, Hunk."_

Before Lance could finish waving, the call ended. Hunk muttered with his arms crossed about Lance consistently doing “the thing.”

“You do it without even trying, buddy. One day, Keith’s gonna get on your case about that.”

“What kind of world do we live in when a guy can’t compliment another guy’s shirt anymore?” Lance shrugged. “I mean, it reminds me that I need more plain shirts for the summer.” He tugged at his white tank with purple and hot pink writing that said _Shell Yeah, Beaches,_ in large, but narrow font.

“We all know that was code for “nice pecs”, _I_ got secondhand flirt energy from that one.”

“Who flirted with you guys?”

Jessie and Sam returned, and Hunk transitioned the conversation a little, “Teenage stuff. Lance flirting without trying.”

“It’s always been my claim to fame.” He mentioned dryly.

Since they were going to be stranded on foot for a while, Jessie relished the thought of taking a tour around the city. The boys didn’t mind much, so long as they were back at the garage by eight. That would give them time to pick up Keith, head back to Garrison Valley, and get home before Hunk’s parents would know that Sam and Jess were out late.

“Whatever you do, don’t tell anyone you were still out past nine o clock.”

“Hey, if Auntie asks, we were at the movies.” Jessie concocted in an underwhelming flash. Hunk was impressed, yet suspicious.

“Where did you learn to make up stories on the fly?”

“Rachel taught me. You guys coming or what?”

While the girl strolled ahead with Sam’s hand locked in hers, the two boys exchanged troubled looks.

.* .* .* .* .

Rachel couldn’t just plop down on the couch and chill with the kids. Not with James sitting there between them looking like the gorgeous, albeit stiff soldier that was his persona, even if he were in just his underwear.

_In his underwear…_

She twirled a lock of hair around her finger and leaned against the wall to take him into her imagination. 

“Remember, Rae. Keep it PG for the kiddos, ay?” Marco suddenly whispered from behind.

She spazzed out with a pop of scarlet smeared on her face, “Huh? I-I was just looking at how cute he looks with with Silvio and Nadia!”

“Hey, I get it. I would probably be giving him those same hungry eyes if he were a “Jenna”.” With a shrug, he faced the front door, “By the way, I’m going out for a quick drive.”

“Go for it! Tank is filled and everything!”

After getting a much-needed scowl out of her system, she asked Silvio to scoot away from James so she could have a seat.

“Where’d Marco go?” James asked with a dust of relief.

“Out”.

“Tía, doesn’t the guy in the movie look just like Mr. James?”

Rachel laughed after squinting at the male lead in the movie _Anastasia_ long enough. Same side bangs, almost-similar gorgeous eyes.

“Who picked this one?”

Silvio and James pointed to Nadia.

“I took the movies out and I had them pick it! That way it was fair.” Nadia shrugged.

“Yeah, it was. Good girl.”

It was more than an inconvenience when Marco back-peddled into Rachel’s line of sight. “You know…I could drive off later. It’s actually better for my body if I wait.”

“What are you going to do then? Back to bed?”

“Nah. Would probably be more fun to play some games or something. James, you’d get a six-hour McClain family membership trial.”

The girl crossed her arms with a raised eyebrow and a strong urge to literally bite her tongue. “Will you excuse us for a second? Won’t be long, I promise.”

“Take your time…” James inhaled.

Once the two siblings ducked back in the kitchen, Griffin’s eyes bounced back and forth between the two children, who were both smiling. They glanced at him, then to each other and chuckled madly.

“What?”

“I’m still laughing at how you look just like Dimitri!” Nadia’s hands cupped against her mouth as Silvio did the same.

Silvio took no shame in pointing out how nervous Griffin looked. Was it that obvious, even without the erect back and hands rested on his knees?

“I have a package of Goldfish crackers in my backpack you can have. Mamá always gives me one before a Martial Arts tournament to calm me down.”

Griffin said yes, because who wouldn’t want to take hospitality from an adorable child?

Marco poked his head around the corner, heavy smile geared at everyone in the den. “Who’s up for game night? Winners get valuable prizes including bragging rights, adults will love it, too!” He waggled his eyebrows at James before disappearing.

Nadia and Silvio squealed while James caught a squint in Rachel’s eyes as she tilted her head. If he could translate that properly, it meant _get your ass in here._

.* .* .* .* .

This was not a toy store. As far as everyone was concerned, it was a medium-sized shopping mall.

The literal name on large blocks was _Geppetto’s Labyrinth._

“When I hopefully get rich from using my degree, I’m setting up a room in my house to look just like this for Sam.” Hunk revealed.

“I wonder how much it cost to build this place?” Jessie marveled.

“Probably a billion hundred dollars!” Sam demonstrated with a windmill of his arms.

“Wonder who dreamed up the word “Labyrinth?” Lance stroked his chin as his irises rose to the whimsy of the room.

While most stores carried displays stacked on top of each other, at this wonderland the merchandise surrounded large animal and doll sculptures and even a talking bird in one area. There was so much wood, so many playfully festive touches. Fat floral arrangements adorned several corners of the room, hanging twenty feet from the floor. Sections of stuffed animals, dolls, toy trains, electronics, _anything_ that a little kid (or a teenager young at heart) could go bonkers with. And that was just the thirty-foot-high area of the main entrance; there were two additional floors.

“Jessie! Look! Archie 2.0!” As Sam ran ahead of his big sister, he looked like a wind-up toy in fast motion as he wobbled away. Hunk knew that his tiny size would only last until he hit puberty, eventually he would grow just as big as any Garrett man.

Hunk hollered for his nephew to stop running, but it was Jessie that stumbled as she finally caught up to him. While the kids marveled at the display of robots with a vintage Japanese aesthetic, he drank in the energy of play stirring in other parts of the store.

“Let’s use our phones if we get lost.” Jessie suggested.

“We could meet in the middle, right where that giant Lolita doll is…” Lance looked to his phobic friend for approval of their plan.

With an uneasy breath, Hunk mentioned the irony of literally having to face his fear of dolls in order to keep the kids safe. “Okay! But you two stay together, alright!”

“Yes, Uncle Hunk!”

Like an eager child, Lance was tugging Hunk by the arm though he remained stationary like a Redwood, “Ooh! Remember back when we were twelve and decided to skip through the toy store and sing songs because we were too broke to do anything else? Now we can do it again for old time’s sake!”

“Lance, we can indulge in this place freely while conducting ourselves like adults, okay?”

But his friend flashed him a lidded stare with matching pout. “Yeah, I know…it’s just that everything in here looks so damned _touchable_!”

Their attention went towards a resin doll-house that had to be five feet tall, and no less. No different from most houses was that it was…gender neutral. Every color except pastels were present in the framework. Dolls designed like Barbies and GI-Joes were next to it on display. 

Hunk repeated sternly, “Like _adults,_ Lance!”

Five minutes later, Hunk’s responsible composure became history as he and Lance transformed into little boys wearing college-aged teen body suits. As they both selected one doll each to start ad-libbing with, Hunk took on the role of a military officer coming to fix the sink of a wealthy widow, played by Lance. 

“Ma’am, I received a call.” Said the suave voice of the “officer”.

In a young female falsetto, the “widow” said, “My sink has sprung a bit of a leak. But that’s not why I called you here today.”

“Are you in more serious trouble?”

The “widow” turned her back, looking out the window. “My husband died at the airport last week, a man killed him in cold blood. I believe that man is still alive!”

“Then you want me to do an investigation.”

“Whatever it takes!” the “widow” turned back to the “officer”. She stroked his face while drawling seductively, “I know you would do anything to please me.”

“I-I don’t know what to say?”

“Say you’ll spend the night tonight, and then we’ll set out tomorrow for Havana.”

Suddenly, “Allura” barged through the door in a rapid gate, “You keep your bloody hands off my husband, you daft _whore_!” she attacked in the best vernacular that she could.

Cut to Lance, who had some questions: “Okay number one, where did you find that Allura doll, because I’m jealous! And number two, why do I-I mean why does _she_ have to be a _daft_ whore?”

A tinny voice asked. “What’s a whore?”

Hunk’s eyes were now petrified in embarrassment with his lips pressed together.

“We have an audience.”

Lance dared to look left and gasped deeply. Little kids. Five of them. Innocent audience members to their not-so-pure drama playing out in a dollhouse.

* * *


	4. "I'm Too Old For This Crap"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance and Hunk continue to be the most disruptive pair of friends in the entire toy store, whether they mean to or not.  
> Game night gets hyped at the McClain household.  
> Keith’s domestic animal bliss comes to a halt with a new character shows up at the airport.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes I swear I'm on something, but all I do is drink water and eat chocolate.  
> [Tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/tealrainbeau)  
> [♪Spotify Playlist/Fic Soundtrack♪](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0w9DYvtyDgRVaFKOCLQhlF?si=hT96Esn-Te-vRK3aFGT4VA)  
> 

“Well…that’s a very grown-up word, that kids your age can’t say unless you’re _this_ tall…” Lance measured his hand to the top of Hunk’s head. Why did kids always get super sonic hearing whenever adults threw around words like “whore” or other cuss words?

Their unfortunate audience looked like they could have been playmates for Silvio and Nadia, eyes bobbing with scrutiny and cluelessness at the two boys who were definitely feeling inflamed under the collar.

“But _you’re_ not that tall.” said a little boy with glasses wearing business shorts and a button-down with a polka dot bow.

Lance started tittering, mumbling inaudibly what a smarty pants this baby model was.

“You guys can have this area to yourselves…we’re just gonna…abracadabra…” Hunk traveled backwards, his feet in pursuit of being anywhere but here.

“Maybe Sister Charlotte can tell us what it means…” A girl that looked like a cross between Madeline and the original Orphan Annie speculated. Red wavy hair with a blue polka dot dress. What _was up_ with polka dots? Suddenly, “Charlotte’s” title began to resonate in a way that wrapped Lance’s skin in a vapor of a chill. 

“Have fun, kids! Don’t do drugs and eat your vegetables.” Lance saluted before once again pulling Hunk’s arm with a reserve of extra strength he might have had in his fingertips.

The larger boy stumbled into a table and managed to send a display of wooden blocks to the floor.

“McClain! What’s gotten into you?!” Hunk yanked back his arm angrily and arched at his friend.

“Nuns!” Lance rubbed his arms as he tucked himself further into his jean over shirt.

“Okay…what about nuns?” Did this guy _really_ have a phobia of fully clothed woman dressed in white hoods and black robes?

“You don’t understand, man. Nuns look all innocent and holy or whatever, but they’ve put the fear of _El Diablo_ in my family for _years_!”

Hunk listened with a touch more sympathy while Lance waxed not-so-poetic about his early youth in Cuba. When they were six or seven, he and Rachel attended an unofficial Catholic school where the ladies of the cloth were strict. All too easily he remembered the classic raps on the wrist from yard sticks, and circular anecdotes about staying in heaven so as not to burn in the fires of hell. Marco, who was two grades ahead of them, used to scare them further with rumors that the nuns had sinister, evil markings underneath their robes belonging to a gang.

“We didn’t need campfire tales…” Lance lowered his face into a prayer. A month later, the school was shut down mysteriously. Rather than ask his parents about it later in life, he chose to remain ignorant with the "truth" of God teaching those nuns a lesson about scaring little kids. 

Hunk rubbed his back as though he were that small kid again, “But look at you now. You’ve turned into a young man that any nun would feel _like a boss_ converting. You’re, like, level 99 rebel now.”

Lance laughed, “Laying that butter kinda thick, don’t ‘cha think?”

“As long as its doing its job?”

His friend gasped and darted away, walking crouched towards the elevator, “Upstairs, UPSTAIRS!”

Hunk followed suit after seeing two of the women gathering the five kids and dozens of others. One was short and stout while the other was tall and wafer-like. One of the children indeed tattled on the boys for making that comment just now and it made Hunk shake to see Nun #1 waving her gaze in all eight directions. Thankfully the elevator was a God-send at the right time.

“Catch us if they can!” Lance muttered while Hunk pressed the gold-plated number two.

Unfortunately for them, the elevator doors were crafted with very well-maintained glass that gave everyone in the store a lovely display of the two of them. Fairy-weight Nun #2 glared straight at them, a disapproving head shake causing the Cuban boy to bristle.

Hunk fell into his own despair, which was that humongous nightmare of a doll that seemed to loom even larger as they went further up. 

.* .* .* .* .

Keith felt stupid by this point. How could he have gone without considering the implications of this whole having-a-stray-wolf-for-a-pet thing?

For starters, he was now out of food. 

“I don’t think milk is a good option for him…” Keith thought out loud. It was unclear whether this pup had been weaned. Damn it for being so impulsive with animal control earlier.

“There’s a market around the corner near the shopping center that might have other things.” Ryan offered.

One more thing that he forgot: no money. He was really making himself out to be an unfit father. If he had a human infant, he would resort to stealing without any deliberation…

“There’s gotta be another way…” he folded his arms and continued looking through his backpack for the hundredth time in hopes that some magical jerky would appear to save the day…

“Listen, I’ll be right back. Please watch my equipment.”

Keith turned his head and followed where Ryan went in the direction the market was. With one hand he ruffled the pup’s head as it drifted off to sleep again. The other hand got ready to cut off the circulation of anyone who was bold enough to try theft on his watch.

“Don’t know if I should keep you here for much longer.” He stared out into space with frayed faith.

Five minutes later, Ryan returned with an unusually long paper bag

A turkey leg. Actually, _something from prehistoric times pretending to be a turkey leg_.

“Think this will take care of him.” Ryan said as more of a confirmation.

“Thank you.”

The man waited for Keith to move his arm from his equipment before taking his seat back. “Summer’s always rough for cash. I was happy to help.”

“I really expected to be home right now.” He pouted angrily.

“Yeah, Argentina’s probably not happy with me either.”

Recognizing Keith’s confusion, he answered that he was making videos for his little pen pal that he met overseas. Argentina: a little girl of ten years old. She loved to sing songs from American musicals and wanted to be an actress when she grew up. While he and his friends were stationed in a South American country, they happened across a group of foster kids who invited them to play jump rope. She was among that group.

“She asked me if I could take her to the US one day. Right in front of her foster mom. I’m like, damn you bold.

“Have you thought about adopting her?” 

“Not as a daughter per say, but more like a little sister or niece. I used to be where she is before my foster parents took me in. They were doting, but supportive. Took them a long time to get comfortable discussing my wanting to join the Army without my mom crying.”

Keith noticed sadness glimmering in the man’s brown-green eyes.

“That girl deserves to see the world, _and_ to do what comes naturally to her.”

The young wolf woke up howling in the familiar underdeveloped hiccup that was expected at his age. With a smile reflecting the utter warmth of his heart, Keith stripped more patches of turkey meat before the animal could sink his teeth into something else, like his arm.

.* .* .* .* .

It was a well-played game of Uno, at least in spite of Griffin losing more than a couple of times, while the rest of the team bit it only once. Silvio and Nadia watched while playing their roles as servers well. Cookies, juice, and sodas were passed around just like the liquor and cigars in casino movies.

“This game is _rigged!_ ” He whispered harshly to a rather chipper Rachel.

“Alright, Officer Griffin. Since I’ve been taking you to school, mind sharing with the rest of the class?” Marco cooed mockingly.

That smirk, those piercing blue eyes that taunted and tortured him for three long years. It was that same essence belonging to a certain cadet, except older and somewhat more sadistic. A frisky essence that was finally beginning to scrape on Griffin’s nerves.

“For Rachel’s ears only.” He squinted, taking a sip of iced tea.

The game was starting to go on forever, so Rachel suggested for some sort of objective to end the game sooner before a saloon-style fight broke out. 

“Next person to pick a Wild or Draw 4 wins.”

“Sounds copacetic.” Marco set down a card. “But I got three cards left.”

“Circumstances can change, Marco.” Griffin uttered, probably too soon, because he was now drawing cards one by one. With a grin, Marco took it upon himself to give him a helping hand with drawing the cards. After what had to be at least ten additional cards, Griffin finally got a matching card and set it down before Rachel pulled one card from the deck and bounced in her chair gleefully.

“Wild Card!” she whooped.

Marco groaned in defeat while James simply buried his face in the wood of the table. Her prize was an unused gift card for $20 to some sandwich shop nestled in the plaza behind the Garrison Military Academy.

“James? We good?”

With a moan, he finally sat up and gifted her with a smile. “You’ve been kicking ass.”

“Happy you can see what I'm made of.” Rachel leaned into him playfully.

“Alright, alright, alright. Let’s move on to something that takes a little more stealth and athleticism. Griffin, this one’s for you.” Marco saluted with a sip of lemonade and turned to the two children, "Silvio, Nadia, get ready to play Fuse and Seek!”

The kids cheered and skipped towards Marco, ready for action.

Silvio asked, “Wait, does Griffin know the rules?

This was just like a game of hide and seek that most kids played, but with a twist: One player started off as “it”, then went after their targets by tagging them one by one. Once that target was tagged, the person formed a team with the “it” player and was required to stay in that team for the remainder of the game. The last player standing got a prize if they survive for the next thirty minutes without getting tagged.

Griffin thought of _Agar.io_ , in human form.

Rachel asked, “What’s our grand prize?”

Marco tapped Nadia’s head, “Oh, get this: according to what Nadia dreamed up, it’s maid service for a week!”

As the game began at dusk, Marco started counting to twenty while everyone scrambled around the house for clever places to hide. Rachel thought of the tree house, but Silvio had that place. Nadia was clever enough to hide in the clothes hamper, so that was a joke. Then her eyes lit up as an enchanted smile formed.

With the last two numbers counted down, Griffin picked the fullest tree to climb and stayed silent. After five minutes he gasped as his phone vibrated loudly in his pocket.

**_Rachel:_** _where ru?_

Though he and his phone were in a position to fall at any moment, he started texting for the hell of it. 

**_James:_** _Not telling_ _;)_

 **_Rachel:_ ** _y not?_

 **_James:_ ** _How do I know you’re not one of them now?_

The girl was not that clever, not by a long shot.

 **_Rachel:_ ** _better question: do I even have to ask where you are? >;}_

Well, he thought so until he peeked at the roof and found her sitting and waving her slender fingers at him in flirtatious candor.

How did she do that?

.* .* .* .* .

On this floor they were away from dolls and robots and in an irresistible dimension of projectiles and toy guns.

“I already see something that’s good for target practice…” Lance feathered.

“McClain, that is a sin!” Hunk was not going to let his friend lose his mind and start messing with ladies of the Cloth.

“No, dude! I’m not going to target _them_!” His bright blues suddenly melted to a cheerful cerulean. “Remember the summer after our third year as cadets and there was this whole grass area where we were allowed to use free water guns?”

Hunk nearly started crying when the nostalgia carried him away. “The Annual Garrison County Fair! That was literally one of the best days of my life."

Everyone was there to see him and his team receive their Young Engineer's awards for outstanding demonstration in the upper Middle School Category. It was a prestigious recognition that gave a young scholar a savings bond for five hundred dollars. And after all pomp and circumstance was over, the cadets were granted the opportunity to be kids and have fun on the lawn with their peers. 

Lance asked him how much that bond was today, but Hunk forgot about it since it was put in savings. 

"Back to the carnival, wasn’t that when a couple of those cute girls showed up and were being all cutthroat? Who shot you in the eye?”

Lance frowned while inspecting a colorful, elaborately-made pellet rifle, “Oh, God... _Stacey Lane..._ Hope she’s doing better these days…”

His very first girlfriend, and one of the coolest cadets ever. She could spin a rifle in a way that rivaled Lance’s precision and even his color guard-influence routine. Who would’ve thought they’d become the unspoken “it” couple on a strict, tradition-washed campus like Garrison Military Charter? She had shoulder-length, brown curly hair with natural bronzed highlights that was always in a puffy bun. Her medium, tan skin complimented the few shades of green and sage on their uniforms. Lance thought she was so military chic back then and they made each other look good.

But a month after becoming an official couple, she broke up with him suddenly, claiming that it was “for their own good.” She was also his first breakup, and it felt like his heart had been hit with a shot gun and exploded into shrapnel to his brain and the rest of his body. He was so heartsick that it was an entire week before he could get out of bed to be productive beyond bathroom breaks. If it weren’t for his father: giving him a speech about McClain men being resilient soldiers of romance with a charm that could knock a cobra out of commission, he would have become a completely useless man.

Suddenly the breakup made sense.

“Well, remember that one month where I was giving Rae the silent treatment? She and Stacey “bonded”, and that’s when Rae discovered she doesn't go by labels!” He threw up his hands in a sarcastic tickle. 

“Whoa! Stachel was a ”thing”?” Hunk found his hand on his own head. “She’s your twin! How could she do that to you?!

“Stachel”, “Racey” whatever their secret ship name was... “It was forever ago, and we made up after Stacey became openly lesbian, so we’re all straight.”

Hunk erupted in chuckles immediately, “I mean… you guys are _far_ from straight, but I get what you’re saying.”

Lance reminisced about Stacey at graduation with her undercut, curly spirals and naked face, and wondered how the hell he was still able to get butterflies!

A loose pellet hit him in his shoulder, and all he could do is meet Hunk’s Cheshire Cat smile with appall bending his brows.

‘Alright! For old time’s sake, I’m declaring war!” With an impish look on his face, the larger boy ducked behind an eight-foot tall display of water-slides.

Lance’s smile was crookedly childlike as he went the opposite direction for a rifle.

Hunk looked up in time to witness a neon orange “bullet” bounce 45 degrees to the ceiling and thump him on the head in the reflective trajectory. “Damn it!”

Lance did a brief running man shuffle and yelled “trick shot”! He shrieked a curse while running away from Hunk’s rapid fire of his own projectiles and dived sneakily in a deep pool of colorful plastic balls.

.* .* .* .* .

Jessie mooned at the giant doll in the center of the store, wondering if Gothic Lolita culture was still popular. How much fabric would she need for a dress of her own, and where would she even be brave enough to show it off? She sighed through her nose; maybe she should try to be less of a weebo now that she was a sixth grader, but still…

“You think they got lost?” Sam tugged at her pants leg.

“Yeah, they got lost alright. Probably messing around like they do.”

Before Sam could say something else to her, she shushed him gently and pretended to use psychic abilities to tune into their location. And the echo of Lance’s wild whoop gave them away immediately. Second floor.

“Come on! We gotta get something on video for Rachel!”

“But-“

“Race you to the elevator!”

Just as the girl thought she was on her way, she heard a faint stumble behind her and watched as Sam crashed to the carpet. Two nuns took a hand each and helped the boy back to his feet. They inspected him for injuries and reminded him in thick Scottish accents to _walk_ in the toy store

“Is this your little brother?”

“Yeah.” She answered.

“Have fun, but please be careful. We don’t want any lad or lass getting hurt on our watch, okay?”

“Yes, ma’am.” The children said in unison and Jessie hoped to God they didn’t hear her accidental imitation of their homeland seep from her voice.

She waved at them quickly and threw Sam on her back as the elevator doors opened for the upper floors.

With a sigh of relief, she set him down.

“I tripped. Not fallen and can’t get up!” Sam laughed at Jessie, but it was the way his cackles rang that made her feel like a dummy.

Not even a minute after getting off on the second floor, Jessie spotted Hunk with a giant toy cannon in his hand scanning the entire floor. Her crush was nowhere to be found.

“I think they’re playing Power Rangers.” Sam squinted while his attention wandered to the ball pit.

Jessie giggled wickedly and pushed the “record” option on her camera.

“Sam, wanna go play in the ball pit?”

“Alright, but I don’t see what’s so fun about it.”

Suddenly from the edge of the pit a neatly combed coif of auburn hair rose, then blue eyes belonging to tanned skin. Finally, Lance’s face was visible for a few seconds, then he put a finger to his lips and sunk back in quietly. 

Jessie got a good belly laugh from that one.

“Hey, guys? Seen anyone we know and love?” Hunk questioned.

“Nope.”

Her uncle mumbled about him being “more of a pain in his ass than he was in the Garrison”. He probably meant with cool military stuff. Speaking of a pain in the ass, another neon ball just hit him square into his and he immediately went to investigate the ball pit.

.* .* .* .* .

“Fight me like a man, McClain!” he grabbed a rail thin, tanned arm. But it was one that felt much thinner and colder than that of his friend. The owner of said arm was a young boy around Jessie's age, with large saucers that flashed in the overwhelming stimuli of stranger danger. Hunk immediately lurched with his hands up in panicked surrender.

Lance finally emerged from the pit with a cross between perplexity and fear in his frown, “Hunk, what’s the big idea?”

“YOU! GET AWAY FROM MY BOY!!”

Every child and adult grew rigid to the thunder of the hefty voice. Lance chose neither to fight nor take flight. But it was Hunk taking off in a flash at the sound of fleshy fists beating together and the horror of a large man with a beard charging towards him in a fury.

“OH SHIT! IT’S SANTA CLAUS!” Lance hightailed it until he was swinging and hurdling over partitions, with Hunk ducking and spinning around every pillar and display. Thank God for an open elevator!

“Lance!”

“I’m all over it!”

They excused themselves while passing through a cute little family with a baby exiting. The territorial father caught the elevator before it closed, but somehow, they slipped back between the elevator doors, leaving the man sealed inside as it went down.

Lance and Hunk collapsed against each other in a heap.

“Are you guys okay?” Jessie cried. She besought for the poor boy to tell his father that it was a huge mix-up on her uncle’s part. That he thought the arm belonged to his eighteen-year-old friend and not some poor under-aged child. According to the traumatized child, his father could be like a “freight train” when it came to his son’s safety.

“You guys are lucky. One time my twenty-two-year-old brother and I were wrestling, and he accidentally sprained my foot…” he started shaking his head with an uneasy smile.

“And?!” Jessie held out her palm impatiently.

“And my Pops literally chased him out the house all the way to a shopping district. He wouldn’t come out of the grocery store for, like, two hours!”

“What’s going on?” Sam popped up from the ball pit, very oblivious to the action that just occurred.

“Our babysitters almost rested in peace.” Jessie shook her head before pressing pause on her wayward recording device.

“Isn’t that child endangerment?” Sam wailed.

“Nope, at eighteen, we’re officially too old to have our mothers save us. Here’s to growing up!” Hunk clapped sarcastically. “Oh, and uh, my most humble apologies for yanking you by the arm in the middle of your joy, kid.”

“It's all good." He turned to Hunk's niece. "Oh! Uh…my name’s Keeyon.”

“Jessie’s my name.” she held out her hand until they both shook. And before they could continue with more introductions, they began to rush away until Keeyon stepped forward to face the giant that was his father. They were only feet apart when his son spoke calmly to him, then the giant ruffled the boy's wavy hair and approached Hunk with a gentle, yet bass-infused “I apologize, young man.”

"Hey, I get it, sir. If my evil twin ever showed up and grabbed my niece the way I grabbed your son..."

.* .* .* .* .

The pup was howling now, a pitch that was as noticeable as a siren. People turned their heads, but Keith gently massaged the pup’s back. After sitting in one spot for so long, it was natural that they would both be getting restless. He told Ryan he would be taking him for a walk. By walk he meant carrying him in his arms until he could find a grass enclosure for him to roam.

All the man did was grunt as he trailed back to his nap.

Most of the surrounding area had nothing but more runway, more concrete. It was something how the sun traced the runway, yet neglected the Midwest for the rain to travel in it’s place.

“They’re huge.” He mentioned about the airplanes taking off.

As the pup began howling again, he shook him gently and pressed him against his chest like he was a human infant and petted him while whispering gently. Time to relocate.

At the nearest help desk available was a gentleman dressed in a sleeveless pinstripe suit with a heavy fur cap perched on his head. Once he got to the desk a few feet away from him, he asked the woman some questions and rubbed his face angrily downward, strutting about angrily.

“Stupid, stupid idea! All this for an animal that could bite my tush off."

“I don’t know how to help, sir, sorry.”

“My dear, there weren’t any incoming flights with a carriage of animals?”

The kind, patient lady behind the counter reminded the gentleman that she processes long lines of traffic here every day. Even if the case were that someone abandoned such an uncommon animal, the police would have already been on their way to arrest such a person. After all, abandoning an animal was and continued to be illegal in these parts.

All it took was for Keith to hear that before sharpening his senses and pretending to not be privy to more information for this mysterious guest. But first, instinct told him to hide the pup comfortably in his luggage before tipping him off to anything. Now that he was safely stowed with just enough of his bag unzipped for airflow, he followed the man while trying to look like his own special brew of stealthy and natural.

The overly-dressed man rushed to the bagging attendant and repeaed the same script, showing him his phone again.

The bagging attendant glanced at Keith briefly and continued his conversation with the harried individual before promising to be with Keith in a moment. He turned to tell the weirdo that the Oriande Pound came to pick the animal up, but someone already claimed it as their own.

In his slow, bougie lilt, the man uttered, "Sounds like it's a _person_ that I'll need to track down. Could he still be in this airport?"

“Sounds like whatever you’re looking for means a lot to you…” Keith thought fast to play on the man’s stress.

“The man shoved his phone in Keith’s direction, forcing him to lean back and process a familiar blur of blue-black fur with streaks of white. But these animals were much more mature than the one he was taking care of. He rested his chin thoughtfully as he processed a sigh, at first from a genuine need to help this weird-looking individual. That was until he noticed the piece of “fabric” on his head that was way too fancy for it to be coon-skinned. 

“Never seen a hat like yours.”

“Oh, yeah? It’s made from a Lynx that was shot months ago.”

“Best of luck finding your wolf.”

Keith felt the soft tissue of his throat soften with sadness as his tear ducts tickled. There was no way in _hell_ he was giving him up to such a vain, despicable individual. 

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I appreciate any comments/feedback/questions on what you guys think♡  
> Thank you for reading and for your patience with my thought process, and I hope you have a wonderful week!


	5. "One Stitch"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A half-reluctant couple finally meets each other in the middle.  
> Lance and Jessie have a heart-to-heart, which is interrupted by a more urgent video call.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writers block took me, as did work and other struggles. I hope to have more time with writing over the weekends.
> 
> Glossary: Y su cuñada del futuro (future sister-in-law) It's what Marco calls Allura later on.

**** **_Rachel:_** _re_ _member, you snitch, I snitch_

 **_James:_ ** _How would you know if I were to snitch?_

 **_Rachel:_ ** _nature of the game didn’t you train for this, Mr. Garrison officer?_

Here on this roof, it was a blanket of silence, which was what Rachel was counting on. But on the cusp of dusk and nightfall, there was nothing more beautiful than the view of everyone else’s fun and decor nestled in the landscape of their neighborhood. The entire area was bathed in a plethora of deep orange dusk.

She shifted the towel underneath her after feeling a slight burn on her bare thigh from earlier’s heatwave toasting the shingles. She folded her legs underneath her and texted James as her other hand tucked away a stray strand of hair.

 **_Rachel:_ ** _you still alive in there_

Griffin smiled despite being within inches of a cat that he swore wasn’t there a moment ago.

 **_James:_ ** _There’s this cat in here that looks like Garfield’s cousin. Hope he doesn’t pull a Sparta act on me :|_

Rachel chuckled.

 **_Rachel:_ ** _thats Lionel, he’s a sweetie_

 **_James:_ ** _Lionel will have me sneezing if he comes any closer._

 **_Rachel:_ ** _hold your breath?_

If Rachel hallucinated, she would have sworn that James just slipped out of the tree and got his foot caught on a thinner branch, his struggling form upside-down. With a high-pitched stifle of a guffaw, she covered her face and fell forward in a seizure of laughter.

As the blood rushed angrily to his head, he reached for the phone that was nesting in the grass below him and forgot that there was nothing to support him should his weight shift. He landed chin first in the lawn with a loud curse. 

The high-key notes of Rachel’s laughter were now nonexistent in her breathlessness as tears gushed liberally from her eyes.

James was able to get up and dust the grass from his clothes, phone left intact. Looking through the window, the two kids hung out in the living room while turning their heads in all eight directions. Marco was coming to get them soon. He could find some other tree to jump in, but that was probably a bad idea timewise.

“Rachel! Let me get up there with you!” James whispered desperately.

“Or I could jump down there!”

“Why the hell would you do that? We’d both be sitting ducks down here!”

Rachel sighed and traveled like a cat burglar to the right, to a lower roof directly above the front door entrance. She stooped down and offered her hand.

“Use your body to push your feet up and I’ll provide an anchor to pull you or something!”

With a thick sigh, James jogged to her and tried out her idea. He was agile enough to try some sort of military parkour to meet her halfway. Unfortunately, a loose shingle from the roof had other ideas, like falling to the ground in a surprise shatter.

“Holy shit!” Rachel cupped her mouth with a hand.

“Let’s do something else! Jump down!” James folded his arms and motioned his command with a finger.

But like a twelve-year-old, the girl folded her arms indignantly, “Bossy pants...”

“I’d rather not let your brother get me!“

She crab-waddled downward, bringing the towel with her to keep from singing her hands. She dropped down and landed in his arms bridal style.

“Impressive.” James smiled with his head tilted. The girl was light weight despite her height.

_Did you guys hear that?_

Rachel drawled a frightened “oh”.

“Hey! Wait for us!” Sylvio and Nadia cried out in a whisper as they gently closed the gate to the front door entryway.

“Are you guys working for Marco!?” James eyed the little ones with scrutiny.

“No! He passed me twice! I even poked my head out when he was looking my way and he _still_ missed me!” Silvio smiled with exasperation.

“Show me your pockets!” Rachel demanded.

They each pulled their pockets inside out to show no trace of cell phones or other spy gadgets.

“We straight?” Silvio shrugged impatiently.

“Okay, I’ll text Marco and tell him you’re with me. Let’s show James where the park is!”

She shrieked and gripped his neck as he started off in a sprint after them.

.* .* .* .* .

“Okay, let’s turn this into a learning experience…Why did we get kicked out of _Geppetto’s Labyrinth?_ ” Hunk’s eyes were burning into Lance, but _why not_ get the kids involved?

Sam eagerly volunteered with the fact that their babysitters were playing games in the store like little kids, which made Hunk cringe at himself. All Jessie did was bring up a video on her phone of her uncle appearing every bit like a weirdo commando wielding the flamboyantly shaded toy cannon, with Lance behind him rising from the ball pit like it was a swamp of sorts.

“Kids learn quick, good for them.” The other boy shrugged nonchalantly.

“This is all your fault, you know.” Hunk’s words slipped out almost just as nonchalantly with an extra added pop of vexation.

“ _My_ fault?!” Lance pulled the breaks on his footsteps, “No, my dude, I wasn’t playing around by myself! If I recall, you were the one who oh-so-enthusiastically followed me to that dollhouse to play The Young and the Reckless right along with me, and very convincingly, might I add?!”

“Uncle Hunk played with dolls?! I’m mad I didn’t get that on tape!” Jessie whipped forward with a hysterical laugh.

Hunk’s throat tightened. “No, Jess! It wasn’t a doll; it was an action figure!”

“Technically, all dolls are action figures...” Lance vouched for the sake of all the world’s doll-players; male and female.

“I remember when Mom gave us a figure that was a black robot ninja, and he could move his legs and arms and I used to make him do flips off the couch...” Sam’s eyes pulsated with sadness as he pouted, still walking as he got lost in the functions of his tablet.

“You still have that, buddy? “Hunk simmered his voice.

It was probably somewhere at their own house, lost in the couch cushions. Their parents gave it to him just before leaving them here in the States. 

Three years ago, Hunk’s uncle accepted a job that contracted him and the wife overseas for the duration of five years. Biomechanical engineering, getting to work on air crafts in Dubai. Hunk’s family had always been a family of engineers; of mechanics and cuisine.

But were the kids getting what they needed from their parents? Relocating Jessie during her transition to middle school would have been tough as hell, with her finally getting acclimated to her surroundings. They managed to take two weeks off to enroll Sam into kindergarten, then they were on their way back to the grind and global commerce. They still spoke like a family often on Facetime or Skype, but it could be a tense agreement sometimes with Hunk’s mom and dad having temporary guardianship over the children.

Over time, Hunk grew to adopt them as a surrogate uncle of sorts. He knew Jessie was having growing pains at such a pivotal age of eleven, developing to be taller and a little bit heavier than her classmates and he prayed with all that was holy that she would be able to find some friends besides Lance and Rachel, preferably her own age.

Hunk and Lance froze long enough to investigate the finger motions that Jessie was making on her screen, the familiar sounds of their screams barely audible from her mobile device.

“Rachel texted me with "Got 'Em" after watching your video.” Jessie laughed shyly.

Lance fussed at her about sending blackmail to Rachel, knowing that they were losing cool points already. Hopefully Marco didn’t catch wind of it...speaking of Marco...

_“Yo.”_

“Yo, yourself.” Lance met his brother’s face on Facetime. “How are the babies?”

_“The kids are alright, they’re playing fugitive with Rae and Officer Griffin in Fuse and Seek.”_

“We’re in Oriande Hills!” Sam announced in the middle of their conversation.

_“Did you get to see Allura?!_ ” Marco wailed with his eyes alight.

“We did on a Billboard. And on a picture with the owner of Pearl Stop. If we ever meet her in person, I’ll DM you, alright?” Lance halfway meant what he said, only because there would be a hundred out a millionth chance that the model/goddess would ever come across their path. Unless cows flew in space.

_“You’d better! That’s my baby! Y su cuñada del futuro once we get acquainted. “_ He smirked, extending his attention to Hunk, _“You guys have my number, tell her that Marco McClain wants to set up lunch, doesn’t have to be anything fancy.”_

“Oh, yeah, the unemployed actor/scholar that just might need her as a reference. Sounds like a future marriage made in heaven...” Lance squinted at him sarcastically.

_“I do **not** use my women, bro! And just so you know, I had to worry about women using **me** for my looks, my scent, my threads… It’s kinda a curse when your peacocking skills are second to none”._

“Your _scent_?” He shook out the debris from the forbidden realm of his imagination and decided to zoom to another subject, “How are the two misguided lovebirds, anyway?”

_“I’ve been testing him, like Ronnie did with Stacey back in the day. And I’ve discovered that he’s just as much a stick-in-the-ass that you described. Pretty sure he has a five-star general dad waiting to ride his ass some more when he gets home.”_

“Yeah, poor Griffin. What about Rae, ‘she look happy enough with him?”

“Chipper as a cherry.”

.* .* .* .* .

The heat was finally starting to burn off even with the sun barely peeking over the mountains. Somehow Silvio cajoled Nadia into playing pirates and magic with him and with his plastic sword he was pretending that he was the hero and she was some ancient goddess showing him where to go.

With a twitch of her eyes, Rachel wondered where she got _that_ diva, look-at-me behavior. Not from _this_ McClain.

“I almost forget how much energy kids their age can burn.”

James settled on the park bench next to her. He hadn’t said much tonight, but maybe it wasn’t the worst thing. Without words getting in the way, he was able to do little things here and there. Like stare at the beauty of her thick chestnut ringlets brushing down her neck because of that leveled ponytail of hers. Indulge in the view of her deep sun-toasted skin radiating with beauty and emitting such an invigorating fragrance; flowers with a hint of…eucalyptus?

How the hell was he going to reveal the depth of his feelings without throwing up a lung?

“I hope they haven’t made you feel pinned up,” she turned to him with her blue eyes shimmering like amber-infused cobalt.

“No…just not used to being around children, period. I’m an only child, remember?”

“Nadia’s in love with you. You’re already a part of her world.” She giggled.

“And you’re a very important part of _my_ world.”

His face stained with red and all he wanted to do was run away like his ten-year-old self yearned to the last time he told a girl he liked her. But he was a grown man, done with running away to the boy’s bathroom every time he was afraid of rejection. It was time to show how ready he was to stake claim into her smile, her playful devil-may-care defiance, her _realism._ And the way she radiated love and acceptance above all else.

“Care to elaborate?” she asked with a gentle raise of her sculpted brow.

“I want to make it official with you, Rachel. Call you my girlfriend.”

There was nothing eloquent enough to trickle from her tongue in that response. Every single verbal monster was keeping her breath in a choke hold.

“I…”

“Mr. James, isn’t the hero supposed to do what the Goddess says?” Nadia crossed her arms with a sour pout.

“But she’s telling me not to go on top of that slide! The hero is supposed to take risks!” Silvio came running straight behind her with his fake sword swinging in his hand as it cut the air.

“Well I’m a goddess of all goddesses and I command thee not to do anything stupid that would put thee in the hospital!” Rachel advised Silvio before launching to her feet faster than the kinetic energy dancing on the playground. As she worked to gain her bearings, she ran to the drinking fountain to sip away the drumming in her chest.

James had shifted his pose when she returned, arms crossed with his head hanging in scrutiny.

“Sorry about that, got parched.”

“Don’t be.” He uttered with an undercurrent of acidity.

“What’s with the tone?” She instigated.

“I’m gonna call it a day,” he stood up. Then he stared into her eyes with gentle austerity, “I’m not one for pressuring _anybody_ when it comes to matters of the heart. But _also_ remember and understand that I **don’t** usually play games. And I’m not gonna continue to fool myself with you, not anymore.”

With a sigh, James was ready to walk before she calmly grabbed him by the arm.

“I’m sorry...that day we hung out at the pier...I felt it too, alright?”

Who knows what was going through his brain that day as they danced at Jades Diner on the boardwalk to old sixties love songs and had a “moment”, as most people like to call it. They almost kissed for the first time that day…

James took her hand and felt it rattle vigorously in his.

“So... whatever this is, what should we do with it?”

“I don’t know...” She used to feel butterflies, adolescent anticipation of seeing the other person again, jadedness from yet another fizzled connection. Part of her always wanted to have what Lance had, what Luis had, what her parents had. Instead she suffocated in the fumes of something much deeper, more passionate like a bed of lava. Wasn’t love supposed to be this _fun thing_ that made girls giddy? But this wasn't puppy love; this was a calm within a beautiful, undecipherable storm of heart radiation.

“I know I’m nothing remarkable compared to other people you’ve been with. But I will give it my all if you let me, even though this is brand new territory for me.” His eyes became vulnerable with a kind of sadness that inexperience made swollen.

Her hand steadied in his, “You mean, before me, there was…”

“Nobody.” He drawled. “You’re kinda my first...”

“HA!”

It could have sounded a lot more sympathetic despite the sarcasm had she not tried to get over the sheer disbelief: How could a man of his caliber go twenty years of life without holding hands in public, calling someone up for a date, cuddling while watching movies? Who was so fucking blind and stupid to have-

_Oh_.

“Rachel, I’m serious.”

“Well, don’t you start thinking for three seconds that _I’m_ good at romance! My last and longest “relationship” lasted a month and that was three years ago.” It was supposed to appeal to his ego, but instead she experienced discomfort from her own shrinking pride. 

“Okay, so neither of us have quite “gotten” it. You think we could learn from each other?

Rachel finally laughed away the coils of tension that took root in her shoulders, neck, and back while a peculiar flurry of calm and trust bloomed in place.

“Okay.”

She gently brushed his cheek until he was inching closer to her, and tilted her head until their lips touched. His mouth was shyly stagnant, which was incredibly adorable. But it was the scent of his woodsy cologne that intoxicated.

Griffin felt his head swimming and turning his legs to taffy. When they finally broke apart, he felt every magnetic force gluing him to this moment, yet watching from a distance like some guardian. His heart raced at a tempo that was strangely comfortable as if in the middle of angelic flight.

His mahogany irises were spread into a blanket of innocence and euphoria.

“Whoa.”

Her smile was smug yet twisted with gentle appreciation.

“Can we do that again? I know I sucked.” James squinted, dragging the words out sappily.

Rachel scoffed and threw her hands around his neck. “You.” His fussiness felt enduring, “Alright.”

“So _now_ is he your boyfriend, Tía?”

Silvio startled them both, his small hands digging into his hips with purpose. Nadia was waiting on bated breath, her knees bouncing up and down.

“Yep!” she rested a hand against his chest with pride.

“Told you!” Silvio turned to Nadia, who smiled regardless.

“Wait ‘till _Tio_ Marco finds out!” Nadia giggled behind balled fists.

Little Nadia must have had psychic abilities because showing up in a Ford was the one McClain that Griffin forgot for a moment they were trying to avoid.

“Marco!” he cried out.

“Polo!” he smiled maniacally as he charged towards them.

The kids screamed and took refuge immediately on an upper level slide shelter, while Griffin and Rachel exchanged unspoken laughter on how they were going to win this game. 

.* .* .* .* .

“Your uncle thinks I’m immature sometimes, do _you_ think that? “He sipped a cup of easy ice and started chewing.

Hunk was still pissed with him. Lance couldn’t blame him. It wasn’t every day that you got kicked out of one of the largest toy stores of the continent. Overall, it’s been a half ripe, half rotten day for all of them.

“I think you just have a lot of energy to burn.” She dragged the words out, looking to her left-hand corner as she answered.

“But he tries so hard to be a good role model for you guys, and I kinda, maybe mess that up for him sometimes.” Despite the fancy-free tone in his voice, his arms were tucked in as he formed a tense triangle with his fingers.

“Is it true that you guys are adults now?”

That was the question of the century. Lance knew he wasn’t a boy anymore, yet he was just an entry-level adult. Sure, he had experienced heartbreak, had a full-time seasonal job, and knew how to drive. Yet the frowns and weariness of veteran grown-ups who had kids or who otherwise were long time slaves to the real world had not infected his spirit...not yet anyway.

“Ask me again in, like, ten years.”

“I don’t wanna go to middle school.” Jessie whined wearily.

“Why not?”

Jessie sat next to him on the ground, crossing her legs like he had while watching Hunk and Sam playing by the shooting water facilities. “They don’t even have play structures anymore!”

“Is that all? I mean, you don’t have to tell me if...”

“Everyone’s starting to get boyfriends. I had one friend who’s dating this boy she met at the middle school we’re going to this year. Ever since then, she doesn’t call me anymore, then I told this one boy that I liked him and he said that I was too much of a nerd, basically.”

Lance sighed. Not that long ago, yet _forever ago_ he was her age. Shorter than most boys and royally teased for joining the school’s color guard. He figured; if he couldn’t fit in, he might as well stand out. And when assholes attempted to bully him, he removed the multi-colored flag from the pole and turned into a martial arts master, kind of. Mimicking the moves from _Fighter’s Flame_ paid off in hindsight. God bless that arcade game.

Lance frowned a little, careful to pick his words without sounding like some PSA for a kids station, but trying to strike a balance between real and rehearsed:

“It’s rough when you’re not being yourself. Don’t feel like you have to grow up so fast, Jess. The world of dating and drama is always gonna be there. But not you. Not the way you are now. You like anime and Japanese culture, that’s something I noticed. It’s _okay_ to not wanna wear makeup or know how to flirt…”

She looked down with a shy smile. “I want to design a dress that looks like anime cosplay so I can trick or treat in it this Halloween.” The costumy jumpsuit would be a cadet blue with short sleeves and a velvet ribbon to go with it. With her curly black hair, she could pull it off. How adorable she would look! Like a little porcelain doll!

“You should totally do it!”

“Really?”

“Hell yeah!”

“Okay! I will!” She bounced with her hands folded against her waist. Lance was none the wiser to the spread of blush on her round cheeks.

“And Jess.”

She simmered down a little and looked up to him. His eyes were soft and voice gentle.

"...just remember to keep being you, whatever that version of _you_ becomes at any time. The end.”

“Thanks, Lance.” She said with a light grimace and a giggle before rising to join her brother and uncle for a water dance in the late saturation of dusk.

Lance gasped and quickly fished his vibrating phone from his jeans pocket to answer Keith’s call.

“ _Lance! I tried to get a hold of Hunk, but he’s not answering. How’s the repairs coming along?”_

“About an hour left… Hang on, let me get him over here.”

With a loud bellow, he called his friend, Jessie, and Sam over to a vacant circular table as they formed a square around Lance’s phone.

It became more evident that Keith was hiding in the bathroom with his luggage next to him. He was hiding something else besides the little animal that was tucked inside.

“Are you in danger?”

_“No, Hunk. But I think he is. There’s a man wandering the airport looking for his breed.”_ Keith’s irises slipped sadly to the corners, _“Could be a poacher.”_

Lance scratched the back of his head, “This individual doesn’t happen to be a descendent of the Deville’s, does he?”

“ _The who_?”

“Have you REALLY never seen that movie?!” Lance folded his arms tersely.

_“Lance, I’m not talking about movies right now! This is serious!_ I have to get him out of here right now!” His teeth were clenched as his jaw firmed angrily.

“Alright, Geez, calm down.” Lance’s voice simmered in contrast to the imminent overcast building in Keith’s eyes. “What do you want us to do?”

_“I’m getting the hell out of here! Even if I have to walk away.”_

“Are you serious? You don’t even know your way around Oriande, do you?”

_“I’ll figure it out.”_

Hunk interjected, mostly to break up the tension between the two boys, “I mean, we can’t literally _watch_ you, you know. Considering that my battery only has, like, twenty two percent!”

_“I’m slipping out quietly. Animal control already thinks he belongs to me, so there’s that problem solved.”_

Jessie deadpanned and offered, “Why don’t we use an Uber or something to meet him?”

Hunk and Lance exchanged glares communicating to one another the depth of how stupid they had been to not think of that in the first place.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I got to Jachel's part I chose to write that as one big happy thing before Keith and everybody got to reunite, which will happen in the next chapter.  
> To be honest, I've been making this up as I go along and I will figure a way to put more Hunay in the storyline for sure.  
> I'm still trying to write this for entertainment purposes only, and I find myself taking my writing process a little too seriously which is stiffling. And I want to wait until I'm in a sillier mood before updating this particular story again.  
> In the meantime I still appreciate any comments, questions, or well-meaning feedback. Have a great weekend!


	6. “Where Are We Going? To Hell!”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hunk and Keith reunite in East Oriande and have a run-in with the animal poacher.  
> Lance and the kids learn the hard way that old acquaintances can wear more than one face...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay I lied: Keith reunites with them to an extent and did I mention that this chapter is a set-up for some medium Langst in the next chapter?
> 
> ¡Ay, Mierda!=Oh Shit
> 
> [Tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/tealrainbeau)  
> [♪Spotify Playlist/Fic Soundtrack♪](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0w9DYvtyDgRVaFKOCLQhlF?si=hT96Esn-Te-vRK3aFGT4VA)  
> 

“How could I have been such a dumb ass?!”

_Don’t rush_ , he remembered Keith stressing. Well now there was plenty to stress about! And now his coyote was with him and if that animal was really on someone’s list, that meant Keith was in danger, too!

“I literally forgot that I had my _own_ money in my account…” Hunk proudly, yet urgently searched for his ATM card and brought up the rideshare app on his phone.

“No, you don’t! You should stay with the kids while I go and get him.” Now he could finally go and retrieve his boyfriend. Or never… Lance’s heart started to dribble in his chest as he dug deep into his pockets and felt nothing. He searched his shirt pocket, _nada._

“ _¡Ay, Mierda!”_

Everyone turned sharply to the sound of Lance’s pained outburst, the kids not having a clue as to what he said. But Hunk knew. Not the exact translation, but something similar to what one would say in English if something dreadfully screwed up happened.

“My wallet is gone!” Lance hammered his words into thin air while trying to keep control of the sudden shallowing of air piercing his airways. His pupils were shrunken as he checked into his cap and found nothing. “Musta’ dropped it at the toy store!”

_“You lost your wallet?!”_ Keith cried.

“You were in that ball pit!” Hunk shot out out in hopes that Lance would use the clue to take a breather.

“We gotta go back!” Lance growled, remembering that while it was a big pit that there were a lot of other much younger kids in there. None of them had been taught about personal space; there were a few wrestling with other kids, some grabbing onto T-shirts and hair. He did feel someone touch his butt briefly, but he shrugged it off while in hiding, chalking it up to a lack of moving space.

“Alright, buddy! I’m coming to get you! Send me the exact address again.” Going to an airport terminal was going to be a lot more expensive, even for a passenger pick-up. But if helping a friend for an extra hundred was necessary, then so be it.

_“No, Hunk. Like I said, I’m walking. Wait for me to send you the new address while this genius gets his wallet back.”_ He eyed Lance dully.

“Yeah, love you too.” Lance murmured softly while tightly wrapping himself into his over shirt.

Keith softened his tone, _“Lance. I need you to breathe, okay? Worst case scenario is you having to cancel your shit before someone commits fraud.”_

Hunk sent Jessie and Sam to go with his worried sick friend as he continued with his original plan to call a Lyft. “About how long, Keith?”

“ _Give me twenty minutes_.”

.*.*.*.*.

After finishing up with Hunk and before more men started showing up to do business, Keith took his roller suitcase and left. Luckily, the pup was asleep, which meant that he could get out of here without much of a commotion.

Ryan was awake now, thumb swiping actively across his phone as he rubbed his neck.

“There was this cat dressed up in a sleeveless pinstripe blazer, had pants to match with it…” his voice was a slow mixture of confusion and amusement as he continued to tell Keith about what he already knew.

“I’m sure he’s a poacher. He’s looking for my wolf.”

Ryan motioned for him to come closer as they ducked their heads together. “ _That_ man’s a poacher? How do you know?”

Keith told him about the pictures of the mature adult wolves, about how that individual was asking attendants and other staff about them. He also recounted with bitterness the fur from some dead Lynx that he boasted about shooting and wearing on his head.

“Got in touch with my friends and one of them is coming to meet me somewhere nearby.”

“Where are you going?”

“At least two miles away from here.”

He was hoping his pops could help him with this one… Taking care of animals was something that the old timer longed for. With his empty ranch, it made no sense to just have a damn wooden fence and some neglected grass here or there taking up residence.

“You’ve really fallen in love with the little guy, haven’t you?”

“Whatever it takes, I’m gonna protect him.” Keith’s eyes glimmered fondly, a warm draft of affection brimming inside of him as he smiled.

“Alright, buddy. Do what you gotta do.” Ryan sighed before doing some tapping and swiping on his phone. “Let’s keep in touch in case anything happens.”

They exchanged numbers and bumped fists. Keith was feet away and paused before Ryan called his name again.

“Please name him.”

“He’ll tell me his name when he’s ready.”

The other man deadpanned at him, and Keith did not flinch as he turned and continued on.

.*.*.*.*.

“I thought we couldn’t go back anymore?” Sam squinted one eye in confusion.

“Lance and Uncle Hunk can’t.” Jessie said with a huff.

Whatever the case, Lance was going to sneak in. But where there were security cameras there were security guards.

Suddenly, a wash of inspiration flooded into his brain: Hunk and Lance were kicked out, but the kids…

“You guys wanna stick together and check upstairs?”

“But what if those Star Wars ladies come back and find us?” Sam fell onto a bench while busying himself with his tablet.

“What?” Lance drawled as his eyes shrunk with a tight squint. Sometimes Sam spoke a language that nobody understood.

“Ohhhhh. He’s talking about the _nuns_.” Jessie giggled with a slap of her forehead.

Lance fell against the wall and felt the comforting pressure of his exasperated exhale collapsing his back. He forgot all about _Sor Maria_ and her sidekick.

Sam suggested simply asking security for another chance to go in. But the child’s simple solution fell onto the deaf, scheming ears of his older sister and babysitter. He pouted heavily and set his tablet aside.

“Dress up as someone else, maybe?” 

“Alright, Tiny. But you got any names that I can borrow?” Lance would have brushed that away if the girls eyes weren’t so set in marbled assurance.

After mentally scrolling from A to K they decided on him using his other birth name, _Leandro_. But after casting the scene in his head, he decided that unless he died his hair black and wore a cross earring that security would probably identify him off the bat. Too bad he didn’t have a long, wavy wig for him to play Rachel or something.

“Maybe someone trashed something in the dumpster out back?” Jessie pointed to the dark, narrow walk way that looked a little too suspicious and clean for Lance’s tastes.

“Eww! **Not** wearing someone’s rat piss-infested…” He meekly excused himself for using such crass language in front of the girl. Keith’s vocabulary was really starting to rub off on him in a bad way.

Both gazes wandered to the empty spot where Sam’s tablet rested.

“Wasn’t he…” Lance frowned.

“I thought…” Jessie’s stuttered.

After spotting the boy from yards away boarding the elevator inside of Geppetto’s Labyrinth, Lance and Jessie gasped in horror.

.*.*.*.*.

“Dad … _I was a little kid_! And that Labrador was neglected or worse!” He paused respectfully for his father on the other line as the older man reminded him that none of them were ASPCA.

“…And that’s why he’s better off with you and Mom. To comfort you both.”

They concluded their conversation with mild, heartfelt departure. The sky deepened to a light gray. It was 7:45 now. He adjusted his skull cap snugly, then stooped to check on the sleeping animal inside of his bag. Considering that he ate and slept plenty, there should not have been a problem. 

A few blocks down was a large white building enshrouded in palms, with just enough strobe lights to help visitors distinguish it from other fancy churches on this side of town, he guessed. As Keith moved forward, the layers of the side pillars reminded him of a cake for some reason, probably because it had been hours since he has eaten anything, proper or not. Each pillar stood about a hundred feet tall with stain-glassed bow windows at the base where people could see upon arriving to the entrance.

_Non-Denominational Church of East Oriande_.

One thing was true: he needed to stay out of sight.

.*.*.*.*.

“ _Hey, you.”_ Shay’s voice and presence graced Hunk’s screen like a litany. 

“Glad to see you, beautiful.” Hunk flashed a smile in hopes that Shay would see his facade of outer calm.

_What’s bothering you?”_

So much for that. It was one of the things he loved and feared about her the most; being able to detect exactly when he was not feeling like himself. Maybe it was the way he would wring his hands together as if trying to squash excess trepidation.

“We’re in Oriande Hills, I think I sent you a text earlier…we were supposed to get Keith from the airport, but then we ran into some other obstacles, like the _car’s transmission_ finally kicking the bucket! But then this really nice, wealthy gentleman helped us and maybe I should’ve asked _if he could take us to the airport…_ ” 

By that time, Hunk’s head hung like a balloon a week after being inflated with helium.

_“Sweetheart, you’re spiraling…”_

“Yes, I’m spiraling! It’s a miracle I haven’t gone underground!” He wailed with a deep exhale, fingers continuing to deep massage his heavy eyelids.

Shay was never a young woman to pity anyone. Not him and not herself. As the early visage of evening curtained through the sky, traffic continued to move in multiple flashes of light. The long-earned breeze of summer night settled onto his skin and brushed him with a comforting chill. Shay reminded him of something just then:

_“There are more likely than not times where light and darkness will collide and give us the answers we need as long as we keep our eyes, minds, and hearts open.”_

“Huh?”

_“That’s what you said in your graduation speech. I took it to heart the weeks after Grandmother passed. What brings you light right now?”_

Hunk looked at his girlfriend, brimming with pride. How did she remember what he said word for word? _He_ didn’t even remember half of it because most of it tumbled from his mouth was strictly ad-libbed from his heart while keeping nerves at bay.

“You brighten my day, Shay. And so do my friends and family.” 

Yes, that included a certain tall, lanky knucklehead who had his moments.

.*.*.*.*.

Despite Lance and Jessie’s pleas to the security guard, they remained detained at the store’s entrance.

“Security’s looking out for him now.”

It rocked Lance’s nerves to imagine some sicko kidnapping the small boy while he was running around all by himself. What’s to stop that from happening at a toy store? And Hunk having a coronary over it was another possibility that should never be a thing.

Jessie was next to him tapping her foot rapidly in intervals, palms covering her mouth in a prayer.

“Maybe the store policy should be that those _under twenty years of age_ are not allowed without supervision.” The guard’s eyes bore into them with a chestnut austerity that caused the boy to gulp. “That wasn’t very adult behavior we witnessed on the cameras from you earlier. You should know better.”

Lance hunched his shoulders and tucked his neck. His chest and abdomen stung from the cinders of the guard’s scolding: Using bad language around a couple of kids, grabbing a ten-year-old boy roughly by his arm, running (in self-defense). Maybe he understood how a couple of grown boys could become menaces…in that respect…

“And _then y_ ou just let a small child go unsupervised.”

“Well, you **know** … he **was** _supervised_ until you decided to treat us like a couple of criminals at the last minute!” Lance rolled his eyes. “It’s not like we even stole anything! Or defaced public property…or started a brawl in the middle of the store!” Where did this bastard get off?

“Is this the little boy you were looking for?” The same dynamic duos of nuns from earlier pulled the little boy towards them, causing Lance to freeze inwardly. 

Jessie collected the little boy immediately and jolted him in a hug, “You know better than to run off like that! What if someone else had come and yanked you away?”

“One day Daddy said that someone took one of his friend’s identity when he left his wallet at the mall! I didn’t want Lance’s evil clone walking around. I’m sorry I failed you, Lance.” Sam hung his head sadly, revealing that he did come back empty handed.

Lance knelt to his level and sobered his gaze into the boy’s teary brown eyes, “I’d rather someone walk away with _that_ than with _you_! You and Jess are like family to me.” 

Sam shivered as he cried some more.

Lance’s austerity melted to a soothing smile. “And you know something else? If I ever find my evil clone in the flesh, I’d kick his butt with my natural human abilities!”

“Are you a soldier?”

“Just call me the Garrison Graduate of 2019.”

They turned to the sound of Jessie calling Keeyon’s name.

The boy, who was without his father, jumped like a startled frog before turning to acknowledge Jessie. Something fell from the oversized pockets of his sleeveless hoodie and she lunged over to retrieve it.

“Sorry I scared you. Dropped something…”

Lance looked at her hand carefully, taking careful notice of the item in it: dark brown with fashionable patchwork stitched on the exterior, worn leather…

“That’s my-“

Before he could identify it officially, Keeyon roughly shoved Jessie to the ground and sprinted immediately with the wallet now shoved back into his pockets. Lance and Sam immediately went to the girl’s aid as she rubbed her scraped elbow.

“I’ll be alright, go get your wallet!” The words tumbled rapidly from her mouth as she pointed sharply to the corner where Keeyon had stumbled around clumsily.

While Sam dusted off the legs of his sister’s overalls, Lance had already taken off in a turbo run down the block, yelling for just one person out of an airy mass of apathetic strangers to “stop that kid!”

.*.*.*.*.

Hunk asked Keith for the address again, because he could have sworn that the driver was to take him to a church building. In particular, the Oriande Church roughly two miles or so from the Airport. It was twenty minutes east of the glitz and glamour of palm-lined Main where the garage was situated, and into a more residential enclave filled with large cypresses.

The driver seemed complacent with the idea of driving two men back with a puppy; Keith left out the “wolf” part.

Once arriving to the building, he shot Keith a text telling him he was here. The man with the dark gray beanie appeared to be breaking steadily away from an influence that was testing his resolve like a magnet.

To appear less intimidating to the driver, Keith had the wolf wrapped in a small blanket before preparing himself for departure. After setting his suitcase carefully in the trunk, he greeted Hunk with the warmest “hi” that he could muster given the currently tense circumstances.

“How you doin’, man?”

“You showed up just before this old lady could invite me to stay for their 8:30 service…” his eyes rolled in obvious annoyance.

“Was she sweet?”

“I guess...”

His thick brows firmed to determination, “What now?”

“I’m happy to follow your lead. After today, just want to get the kids home and collapse in my bed.”

“I hear you.” Keith sighed and quietly shushed the animal that was now howling in the blanket.

The driver was to take them straight back to the garage and Hunk would take care of the fare from there. Keith promised to pay him back the moment he got a job back west.

After an extended pregnant pause, Hunk said, “Kosmo would be a good name for him.”

Keith hummed in confusion. Then he understood: _the baby wolf._

“He already has a name. He’s just not ready to reveal it.”

“Keith…you realize that he can’t talk, right? I know you’re an only child and that only-children have imaginary friends or whatever, but this phase…”

“I know what I’m talking about. He can communicate-” a gasp jumped from his throat before he could finish that statement, and he ducked out of sight from the large Lincoln next to them. Inside was a passenger that Hunk reminded himself firmly not to laugh out loud at, grateful that Lance was not with them playing fashion police. He was sporting a black suit with white pinstripes, and a fur cap that was completely out of place for that outfit. They met at a red light.

“Hunk! That’s _him!”_ Keith whispered roughly.

The red light appeared taunting, its crimson eye looking down on them as a means of torture. The man’s gaze oscillated until stopping with a squint of his eye, lips pursed into a tight line.

“Okay, this guy is interesting.” The driver smiled at the stranger despite the bothered tone in her voice.

“Feel free to take the long way.” Keith said after a heavy sigh.

.*.*.*.*.

“Alright… _gasp…_ Crayon!” Lance’s eye were lidded with exhaustion.

“It’s _Keeyon!”_

“Just hand it over…and…I won’t-” Lance reluctantly leaned against a light pole for stability. His chest was in the midst of a dull burn, vision growing spotty from five consecutive minutes of chasing someone with rapidly changing scenery. He clenched his trembling hands, wishing that he could pull himself together for just a few seconds.

Jessie finally caught up and patted Lance on the back, promising that she would handle it from here.

She marched towards the boy while demanding in a strict tone to give back the wallet. With the material in his hand, all he did was laugh while allowing his noodle-like arms to fall to his side.

“Why are you being like this?!”

“I’m sure he needs it a lot less than I would…”

Lance conveyed faintly yet loudly enough, “Nope! Don’t you do that! There are starving children in Somalia that would probably make you look like a prince!” Behind the tough love assertion, Lance fought the disarming urge to ask him more about his story: where he lived, whether that man who chased he and Hunk earlier was his real father...

“Anyone that steals from my friends has already made an enemy of me.” Jessie continued.

“Friend?! You kinda act like he’s your boyfriend.” 

“D-Do not!” she averted her gaze with a flush.

With a giggle, he pointed to them, “I see how you look at him. Like you want to marry him or whatever. Isn’t he, like, seventeen?”

“EIGHTEEN!” Lance slurred.

“I’m not gonna say it again, Keeyon. Pass it to me now, and I won’t shove your stupid ass in that fountain!”

Lance gasped under his breath witnessing Hunk’s little niece transform into a tough little _mamacita_ right before his eyes!

“Don’t seem like you’re smart enough for anything else.”

The girl’s eyes flickered with sadness and as she indeed shoved him, the boy flailed his arms haphazardly as the wallet slipped from his grasp. It hit the grass with a soft thud while he hit the shallow pool with a medium slap. 

After checking for the contents of his wallet and breathing a sigh of relief Lance took a restroom token from a spare compartment and flicked it so it landed next to the drenched boy in a delicate splash. 

“Hey Jess, make a wish.” 

The girl whispered rapidly before nodding to seal her desire. Lance asked her if she was finished and she hummed. She admitted that she wished for boys her age who weren’t total idiots. 

“Alright, that’s enough!” 

A regular police officer strolled in their direction. He stopped and scanned the young man and little girl before his eyes rested on the boy squeezing his oversized hoodie out. 

Rather than make an arrest for the boy the officer inspected him for injuries and firmly reminded him that his foster parents were looking for him.

“She pushed me! That’s assault!”

“He pushed me first! And insulted me!” Jessie raged.

“He took my wallet! That’s theft!” Lance added indignantly.

The officer folded his arms tightly, “Tell the truth, Keeyon.”

Lance folded his arms and eyes the boy wildly, instigation flashing directly at the little thief.

“I was gonna...”

“Give it back? Is that really what we’re going with, _Crayon_?”

“Dude, it’s _Keeyon_!” The boy spat while darting his thumb at the taller boy. “He’s supposed to be eighteen, chasing a little boy around the city! What do you have to say for yourself?”

All Lance did was slump to the grass and look up at the youngster, “I’m _seventeen_!” He maintained tauntingly with a crooked smile, sneaking a peak at the officer’s body language to see if he bought it.

“Curfew’s in two hours, kids. Better get home.”

From roughly a yard away, a familiar tall man wearing black slacks and a white shirt galloped from his limo to the large lawn that led to the fountain.

“Mr. Gardner? What are you doing here?”

“Coming to the aid of a couple of kids that seem to be in trouble yet again.”

.*.*.*.*.

Lance and the kids went with Mr. Gardener on the condition that he was to take his rich limo right back to the place where their own car was sick as a dog. Except that as the limo moved more yards away, the directions that he took to go after the boy also looked as far. They were now in an area that escaped Lance’s memory with open lots and cars of all models parked in front of large banner. 

“Mr. Gardner, the garage is _that_ way…”

“I know, Lance. I have to make an urgent stop. I hope you can understand. You and Jessie feel free to enjoy whatever you want. The little one, too.”

“Sure. Of course. Thank you.” 

If riding around in a limo killed enough time until their car was ready, then so be it. The kids were with him and probably thought it was awesome. Jessie took advantage of apple cider, and first aid for her elbow while Sam connected to the WiFi thanks to her help, and watched movies. Lance took it upon himself to munch on some popcorn.

The limo rested in an empty parking lot surrounded by trees where yards away a festive dome of screaming, excited humans were participating in festivities.

It was a while before Mr. Gardner returned and Lance needed fresh air. As much as he hated leaving the kids, nature was starting to become a nag with its call, so he asked the driver to keep an eye on them while he found the nearest restroom.

“It’s about a ten-minute walk from here.”

“ _Wonderful_.” 

Then to the nearest bush it was. He asked the gentleman for some wet wipes because he still had _some semblance_ of civility. 

Lance stepped outside. Memories earlier today of his mama’s excited face flooded back to him as she talked about the outdoor concert taking place in Oriande Hills...

“Holy shit! _That_ must be where our parents are!” Imagine if they knew what they were up to at this moment...

After handling his business, his hearing senses sparked and attuned to some dialogue crackling a few feet away. He frowned as he recognized the voice as belonging to a rather agitated Mr. Gardner. 

_“You remember what Mama used to say about shittin’ in high cotton...well how hard can it be to locate a boy with a gray skull cap and a tattoo of a blade on his arm?!_

Dread suddenly infested its way into Lance’s gut. What the hell was he planning with Keith?! He rounded a trashcan away from the vicinity and dialed him immediately.

.*.*.*.*.

The man in the pinstripe suit was far from view, even as Hunk looked out the window.

“The coast is clear.” Hunk said softly.

Keith cried out from the vibration in his pants pocket, then exhaled as he sat upright to answer the incoming call from Lance.

“Yeah?”

_“Keith, is Hunk with you?”_

“Yeah, we’re headed back to the garage coming west, tell me what’s wrong!” Keith was adept at reading emotion over the phone. Words that blew out wispy and hushed, the slight shakiness of Lance’s throat when he said the word “you”.

Hunk asked his friend if he found his wallet and was relieved to hear that he did. Yet Lance sounded like he was rushing to something more important than that.

“ _Dude, I think Earl Gardner’s looking for you and not for anything positive!”_

“What? I don’t know that man, and I sure as hell don’t know what he wants with me!”

“ _Well unless there’s another dude out there with a blade tattoo on his left bicep and wearing a dark grey cap, you better stay away!”_

“Hold on for me, I’m putting you on speaker!”

The first thing that Hunk demanded was news on Jessie and Sam, who were in his limo watching movies and enjoying snacks. Despite the relief that they were comfortable, it was no consolation that Mr. Gardner turned out to be questionable news.

“Why would he be looking for Keith of all people? You didn’t mention him when he was there…”

_“When he was talking to whoever he was talking to, he sounded pretty peeved! Using this old Gone With the Wind dialect about “shitting in cotton” or something…”_

“What does that even mean?” Keith threw up his hands in frustration.

The fallen note of the phone hanging up caused him to dial the boy back immediately. Keith fumed inwardly as the boys cheerful voice box greeted him over and over.

“Son of a bitch!” Keith slammed his phone and ran a rigid hand through his hair. 

“I’ll call my niece!”

When Hunk called Jessie, all she was able to tell him was that he went out to use the bathroom and was probably in an area without any signal.

“Where exactly are you guys?”

“I don’t know. Mr. Gardner took us the opposite way of where the garage is supposed to be...”

“Tell your brother we’ll meet up later. Turn on your GPS for me, okay?”

He told Jessie he would call her right back as he responded to the call waiting beep sounding. 

“Yeah? This is Hunk Garrett. It’s ready?! Okay, we’re on our way!” Hunk cheered and demanded that their Uber driver take them straight to the garage. Now to get back to his friend and children.

.*.*.*.*. 

“Hey! Mr. Gardner!” Lance fixed his trembling lips into a tight smile.

“It’s a good thing we’re not in the woods. You’re in just the right place for a bear to sniff you out. Let’s head back.”

As they walked side by side with Mr. Gardner’s hand firmly on Lance’s shoulder, the millionaire waited until they were a yard away from the car and whispered to the boy. “Don’t think for a minute that you’re slick, boy. I heard you warning your little friend about me.”

Lance straightened his face until he was able to speak casually. “Warning? Nah. Just telling him what an outstanding gentleman you are, with saving our bacon and all. You’re a swell guy.”

“And only a snake can charm the pants off of someone without making themselves prey.” Lance could feel his thick hand grip more tightly. “So, this is what you’ll do: call your little friend back and tell him that your imagination was running amuck.”

Lance’s throat rippled. The cool gruffness of the man’s tone was enough to make him swallow his tonsils. 

* * *


	7. "Don't "F" With the Babysitter!"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The three friends finally reunite under the most chaotic of circumstances.  
> Rachel and James enjoy their time away from the game in their own bliss.  
> Jessie is excited to finally meet a well-admired role model.
> 
> _changed Lieutenant to Detective, for the sake of this story_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year!  
> I wasn't sure if people were still reading during the holiday season and I didn't feel like writing a summer time story during early winter at the time.  
> But this story is too much fun for me not to continue, now that my inspiration has come back. ;)

So Lance reluctantly dialed his boyfriend’s number and convinced him that the exhaustion of the day was playing tricks on him, thanks to the grace of God and great acting chops.

 _“Do you need a doctor or something?”_ Keith asked anxiously.

“Nah, just some Zs in my own beloved bed. Yeah… so, um, please forgive me and don’t kill me later. Tell Hunk that everything’s cheese and crackers over here. Bye bye!”

With a swipe of the “end call” button, he swallowed as the reflection of Mr. Gardner clouded his phone screen. The man was 6’5, and much larger than Lance remember him being. Maybe it was because his own heartbeat resounded like a smoke detector under the weight of fear.

“That wasn’t so hard, was it? Let’s get you back to your friends.”

“Why are you after my boyfriend?” Lance bit back in defiance.

“Because he has an animal whose fur is worth millions. And my brother hates it when good money gets away from him.”

.*.*.*.*.

Keith relayed Lance’s message to Hunk, who did not believe him for a minute. In fact, he was so sure that Hunk sensed something wrong that he immediately followed his lead and climbed into the passenger side of their van.

“Jessie’s GPS is showing where they are right now. They’re near where the music festival is…”

“He’s connected with that guy I saw earlier in the van! They’re together!”

As Hunk started the ignition, the owner of the garage yelled at them not to move.

“You said it was fixed! What’s the hold-up!” Hunk’s fingers trembled and he had a sudden urge to rip the steering wheel cover off with his bare hands.

“I can answer that for you.”

Keith clenched his teeth when his brain immediately recognized the man in the pinstripe suit. The individual sauntered in their hemisphere and clicked his tongue, revealing that Mr. Gardner voided the check used to pay for the car’s repairs.

“You see, if I don’t get that wolf back, you don’t get to make off with your wheels. Sucks, doesn’t it?”

“I don’t see your name _anywhere_ on him.” Keith rubbed the animal’s back as he burrowed deeper into his bag.

“You see, I promised a certain client overseas that I would find that wolf and deliver him for a hefty sum. As in enough to match my brother’s fortune…”

Hunk spoke up with the most fearsome tint of intimidation in his brown eyes, “I don’t know you, but I swear: if your _brother_ hurts my kids or Lance in any way, I will personally make _your_ days more excruciating that your darkest nights!” He pointed fiercely in the man’s direction.

The man gasped and threw his hand on his chest.

Keith looked at Hunk’s GPS, locating the dot indicating Jessie’s location.

“Hunk…drive.” Keith urged him with a side-eye. His teeth were bared angrily like a vigilante out for revenge.

“Keith, that’s stealing.”

“Hunk…STEP ON IT!”

The boy bristled as reflexes in his foot jammed the gas, causing the man to dive out of the way and into a pile of tires while the car raged into heavy traffic. 

.*.*.*.*.

Lance was not going to alarm the kids, so making sure that things appeared as normal as possible was going to be his first priority. Apparently, being held hostage was more than his worst dream come true. Although technically, Mr. Gardner didn’t do anything like that; more like he gave him an unspoken threat to keep quiet. The thought of that man doing anything more dastardly than that caused the current of his blood to chill and sweat to run down his neck like icicles.

All he had to do was stay calm, use what he learned in academy. This was going to blow over, hopefully…

“Mr. Gardner?”

His eyes were noticeable in the rear view, and those eyes turned back to the road ahead. Lance sighed and asked Jessie if she had a pen he could borrow. The girl combed through Sam’s backpack until she shook her head regretfully.

“Damn it!” Lance whispered under his breath.

With a little push for ingenuity, he quickly fished a quarter out of his pocket with a smirk. He pushed record on his phone and spent time concocting an erratic beat with the quarter on the wood finish of the arm rest. He was careful not to forget light scratching sounds when necessary. The kids sat up with grimaces painted on their face, and Lance put a finger against his lips before Jessie began to speak.

“What was the point of that?” Jessie questioned after he was finished.

“Just a little something to mess with your Uncle.” He drawled mischievously.

Before Sam could say something, the limo started up suddenly and they were on their way.

.*.*.*.*.

Keith followed the dot on the GPS while Hunk drove like a bat out of hell.

Hunk was almost afraid to stop at a red light, in case Keith was going to yell at him again for stalling. He was probably coming down with acute anxiety over Lance’s safety. But he wasn’t the only one…those were _his kids_ that they were messing with. His parents were going to kill him!

“Hunk, slow down!”

“ _Step on it, Hunk! Slow down, Hunk._ ” He mocked. _“_ Make up your damn mind, Keith!”

“Going to jail or getting a ticket is not my idea of fun right now!”

“NONE OF THIS THRILLS ME!”

After spending a few long seconds in silence from Hunk’s outburst, Keith rested a hand on his friend’s forearm. He wanted to say something comforting to him, but all prepped to departure from his mouth was a cool breath of air and the blockage of his own heart thumping angrily in his chest. It was rare for him to go crazy like that.

Hunk’s nostril’s flared as he allowed himself a much-needed deep breath. His phone vibrating did little to help matters.

“Might be Lance. Go ahead and check it.”

Keith opened the text and listened to an audio of tapping. He frowned at Hunk, who deadpanned at the nonsense.

Those drumming sounds made little sense to Hunk, unless…

“Play that again.”

Keith did what he was told.

Soon tapping noises translated to memories of high-pitched tones in his brain. Scratches…This reminded him of that one stenographer class they aced _ages ago_ …

Letters came next…

S-A-F-E-O-N-W-A-Y-G-A-R-A-G-E-E-A-R-L-W-A-N-T-W-O-L-F…

After a minute longer of translation, Hunk pulled over with a widened look of “eureka” splashed on his face. “We gotta go back!”

“What?! Why?!”

“Those taps you heard was _Morse code_. They’re okay and on their way back, but the guy that’s been helping us out wants Kosmo.”

They abruptly pulled off the curb as Hunk did a U-turn back to the garage.

.*.*.*.*.

“I’m kinda over this game…” Rachel whispered against James’s cheek.

“What are you saying? You wanna surrender and let Nadia win?” James answered cheekily.

“You, like, have no faith in Silvio, do you?”

“The kid has spirit, but Nadia knows how to take command.”

The two of them remained stretched out and concealed in a grassy area behind a tall flower bed, where no evening lights accented or reached. James was leaned against her chest, combing his fingers mindlessly through gathered strands of her loosened hair. His face was hazy with contentment. 

A distant sound of Marco calling after the remaining players continued in the background of the cricket chorus. Then an undertone of Silvio’s shrieking with Marco’s victory cackle sounded. Rachel chuckled a little. She desired, just for a moment, to remain in this spot with James, his body warmth her comforter, the languid bass of his voice as an answered prayer of sorts.

“So, um…what would you say to spending the night here. We’d wake up to nature…”

“Bugs would crawl up our arms, and mosquitos would eat us alive. The lawn men would scream at us to clear out.”

“Ugh! Way to kill the mood.” She shoved him playfully.

“Ow? You really don’t know your own strength, love.”

She caressed his cheeks and tilted her head downward until their lips were inches apart. “Yes, I do.” She chirped softly.

This time James kissed her with a spark of muscle memory, and she swore that such a reciprocation brewed a permanent sanctuary for the butterflies that had been quietly nesting in her stomach.

The vibration from his phone burrowed under her tickled nerves, and James broke the kiss to check who was calling. All he did was shrug and show her the unfamiliar numbers.

“I’ll answer that.” She confiscated the phone and swiped her thumbs furiously across the screen.

“What are you-” James began.

“How the hell did you get James’ number, hmm?” She asked sternly.

James watched as she trilled through unfamiliar Spanish words, recognizing the word “jamonero” immediately.

“You know what? Come get us, we surrender… “aww”, _yourself_! Bye!”

When she gave back the phone, she revealed that Marco got the nerve to hire Silvio as a spy to search _her_ phone for James’ number.

Footsteps. Steady rustling of grass. Judging by the seesaw of voices, it sounded like Marco narrowly missed their niece…

He huffed, “Now you understand why I rooted for Nadia! Come on, let’s go. He’s on his way.” 

“But I like our little sanctuary…” she moaned with a light sob.

James bared a gentle smile, umber eyes glistening, “Listen, I’ll get you a bigger, better one. Now get up.” He pulled her to her feet, kissing her knuckles.

Marco and Silvia came to get them with no Nadia in sight.

.*.*.*.*.

“My brother found something he desperately wanted. Looks like I don’t have to worry about you after all.”

Jessie tugged on Lance’s sleeve, “What does that mean?”

Lance stretched his neck and leaned back in his chair, “Means he won’t have to worry about detouring us, that’s all.”

He returned Mr. Gardner’s stare, hoping to communicate just how much of a trooper he was. Not even this huge guy could scare him, at least not outwardly.

Minutes later, they were back on the much more familiar side of West Oriande and in the garage. 

“Earl!”

There was a tall, much skinnier dude who was helping the garage owner stack tires. Why? Lance had no clue. But he did hear Mr. Gardner speaking to him about that “canine” and raving like a lunatic over “letting those brats get away so easily.” Then the guy whose get-up looked like an uptown Oregon Trail-themed birthday party lamented about the possibility of having a dead brother. Mr. Gardner drawled a warning against him being so dramatic while setting up the rest of the tires.

“Well, are they coming back, or aren’t they?” Mr. Gardner snapped at the owner.

“Don’t know!”

When both men turned their heads towards the garage’s entrance, Lance let out a rivulet of air under his breath. It was the familiar sight of Hunk’s van with Keith in the passenger seat that brought his thumping heart to a steady bob. 

“There they are.” He mooned casually.

.*.*.*.*.

“Keith, it’s the lesser evil.”

His eyes brimmed with heavy sadness as his top lip lost his stiffness, “As long as they don’t hurt him…” His hand ruffled the fringes of the pup’s head and he sighed.

“Remember, if they do harm a helpless animal, Karma is a bitch.” Hunk tried to go for supportive, bad-ass friend, _he really did_.

Keith accepted in earnest.

Hunk’s tone rang with Mr. Gardner’s name as it echoed in the dense corners of the garage, alerting everyone.

Lance’s heart churned with relief and something jumpier and more fluid than butterflies caged around in his stomach.

Hunk took a few steps with clenched fists and Keith noticed that he didn’t flinch.

Keith unwrapped the wolf and had him under his arms with his paws stretched out, not before whispering goodbyes that were reminiscent of a parent trusting their child with unknown caregivers. Mr. Gardner grinned while taking the pup gently from his arms.

“Alright, Jared. Bring the cage over! This mission is accomplished.”

Hunk sighed mentally while gripping Keith’s shoulder in sympathy. 

“What’s done is done.” Keith’s voice shook with aftershocks of a whisper.

Lance and the kids rushed to their grey Van before Mr. Gardner halted them with an ambiguously charming tut-tut.

“Not so fast, kiddos!”

Keith protested, “We had a deal! You would pay off the balance if we gave you the wolf!”

The older rich men exchanged glances, smirking in amusement before speaking: “Jared, you recall a _deal_ that you made with dear Hunk, right?”

“A deal? That would include any agreement where gentlemen _shake hands_ , right? Like Big Daddy taught us?” The other man put on a false display of ignorance.

“Well?”

“I would never be so frivolous.”

Such a nonchalant comment punched shocks on the faces of Lance, Hunk, and Keith.

Before driving off in their limo, Mr. Gardner left them with a final piece of advice: To return all those snacks the men ransacked earlier with the kids and get money to pay the transaction. After all, the store was open for twenty-four hours. The two men climbed in the limo and was backing steadily out, with Kosmo now howling frantically from their open window.

“Uncle Hunk? Why can’t we get in our car yet?”

“Jess-”

His need for making up an elaborate story became overshadowed with the piercing sound of a siren. A Lamborghini with a black matte finish swerved in the limo’s path cleanly, three cop cars following after. Was he watching a movie just now? The only part of him not struggling under a blanket of disassociation was his eardrums.

“Earl and Jared Gardner! This is Oriande PD! Out of the car with your hands up!” A female officer screamed while a few others stood by. The men finally came out in surrender while being cuffed and read their rights. Into the back of the cop vehicle they went.

“Like I said, Keith, _Karma…”_ Hunk raised his eyebrows while remaining straight-faced.

Keith huffed in astonishment, acknowledging Lance and the kids running to their side.

“You guys alright?”

“Peachy.”

Out of the sexier black vehicle stepped a lightly dreadlocked man with a badge dressed in a green shirt with blue ripped jeans and…

“No way!” Keith’s mouth spread open slightly, eyes shrunken at the sight. “Ryan?”

Hunk gasped. “Ryan?! As in that guy from the airport? _That_ Ryan?!”

And despite Lance’s hand tightly linked to Keith’s the other boy couldn’t help but verbalize the liquid heat trapped in his throat and ribs, “I think I’m in love…”

“You’d better think twice, dude!” Keith uttered through his tucked lips while yanking his hand back. 

“Aww, come on babe! Don’t be like that.” He drawled while stroking his shoulder. “Hi, Ryan, remember me? Can you please convince my sexy, smart, brave boyfriend here that my infatuation for you is like watching an action hero in a movie?

An officer interrupted them after giving the limo a once-over. "Detective Kinkade, there’s no animal in here!”

“What the hell do you mean?!” Keith arched forward immediately.

“How the hell is _he a detective?_! He looks awful damn young!” Lance scratched his head.

Keith ignored his question, “He’s just a baby, I’m gonna have to be the one that tracks him down!”

As Kinkade called after Keith, he was already a man on a lightening flash mission.

Lance begged Hunk to stay with the kids while he followed his boyfriend in a flash.

“Uncle Hunk, I wanna go home.” Sam had long put away his tablet and was rubbing his eyes, head tipping to the right until gravity jolted him to his senses.

“I know, buddy. Me too. You and your sister…you alright, Jess?”

She murmured a “yeah” and wiped her right eye roughly with the back of her hand. Hunk felt sorry for her, it was now three minutes past ten and he was so damn tired himself. And…his parents were getting ready to wrap up their concert night in less than a few hours…

“How am I gonna pay for the transmission now? Mr. Gardner’s the one who payed for it until he went and committed a take-back…”

“That’s something you’ll have to settle in court…” Kinkade said, voice tinged with sorrow. “Please excuse me, I need to have a discussion with the owner of this place...”

.*.*.*.*.

Keith only knew how to call him with the highest whistle pitch. He almost kicked himself for not naming this guy, but then again, he was a wild animal… he only prayed that he wouldn’t go savage and start attacking innocent people through his distress.

The familiar timbre of Lance’s voice calling his name warmed his eardrums, and he hung back.

“Any trail?”

“None.”

In some weird twist of logic, Lance got down slowly on all fours and began sniffing the sidewalk. Keith found himself tangled in a perverted sense of captivation with this display before him, hands clenched in front of him to keep from wrapping them around this man’s neck.

“Lance, what the _hell_ are you doing?!” he rasped silently while trying to ignore other pedestrians who couldn’t help but stare.

“I’m trying to find a pheromone trail. You know how they like to sniff to locate their owners or other dogs-oh God!” Lance lurched and choked, “That was something I never _ever_ want to inhale again!”

Keith’s skeleton went lax as he watched this guy continue to make an unwitting fool of himself. Instead of an exasperated groan, laughter erupted from his abdomen and seized him until he doubled over on one knee.

The innocence of his chortling brought Lance to an upright position. Was this man laughing _at him_ , or just relieving stress?

“Umm, my man, you okay?”

Keith looked up, face splayed with red and eyes wet. “I can’t tell whether you’re an idiot or a genius. It’s like it overlaps. Guess that makes you a genius.”

“Keith, I’m gonna ask you again…” Lance stroked his cheek with a soft pinch of his hand, and Keith cradled the base of his skull, bringing him into a kiss. His lips caught Lance’s, soft and slightly lukewarm from the late-night drop in temperature. It was as if he was relaying a secret message of assurance and acceptance while moving his lips in tandem with his. They broke away, both tranquilized and content.

Keith smiled, “Much better now.” It was for a short and sweet eternity that Lance savored the comforting weight of Keith’s head on his shoulder, but that ended tragically when his boyfriend’s throat erupted with a mild retching sound.

“Babe, what have you been _doing all day_?! Lifting buildings?!” he wailed.

“Well, Keith, let me recap…” Lance began counting on his fingers for emphasis, speech increasing in speed as frustration exhumed from every fiber of his limbs, “While trying to stay cool in **ninety-degree heat** , I’ve been, in no particular order: chasing a child-thief who stole my wallet, running away from child-thief’s “dad”, riding in a bunk car without air conditioning, _and_ staying calm under pressure while playing make-believe around a couple of innocent children! Oh, and that last part?! Part of _that_ was for the sake of protecting your baby coyo- oh _my bad_ , your _wolf!_ ”

The college boy’s eyes transitioned from his usual indigo to an overcast of deep, trembling amethyst. “Sounds like you had a rougher day than I did.” Keith’s voice simmered to a whisper. “I’m really sorry. I was careless and I wasn’t thinking about how what I did would effect you guys.”

“Yeah, you were damn careless.” Lance uttered, now empty from his tirade. Keith noticed the sly curve of his lips and the essence of them dipped in humility. “and you’re always that most _caring,_ selfless guy who I’m proud to be in love with.”

Keith could not manage the trill that jumpstarted his heart, “Lance…”

A commotion started up a few blocks down, where the two detected an increase in crowd hysterics. On a large screen a model kneeled down and started petting a very familiar face of a wolf who simply started panting happily.

“Let’s go get your child!” Lance rose up and started jogging, yet Keith noticed a misstep and a wobble where Lance was concerned. Getting up too fast was his answer, which subdued Keith’s worry for now.

Hunk pulled up to the curb and demanded that the two of them “get their asses in the car on the double.”

“Hold up! Who paid for the transmission?”

“Uh…”

.*.*.*.*.

Night club music percolated through the crowd and brought the streets of West Oriande’s in-crowd into a frenzy. The boys realized that this was a fashion show, now evident from so many flashing lights and waves of camera phones capturing the action. Many mooned over the clothes, but especially over the wolf pup prancing around on stage.

Eventually, a bodyguard had to escort the animal backstage. He seemed rather compliant, not a hint of malice present in his jaws or claws.

There was nowhere to park. That meant possibly having to park miles away in some strange mall parking lot. What other choice did they have?

Apparently, none, since with one look of an Amazonian vision wrapped in a pink floor-length mermaid cut with a V-shaped bodice, Jessie and Lance were now liable for losing their minds. Because of supermodel Allura Altea, seatbelts were unfastened, and Lance didn’t even bother to wait for the van to come to a halt before leaping out. Jessie came tumbling after.

“Jessica! Just because Lance and Keith are stupid enough to do that doesn’t mean you should be, too!” Hunk scolded the back of her head, because _clearly,_ she wasn’t listening.

“Follow the Keith!” Lance whooped and darted with Jessie, as the mullet started cutting through the crowd in pursuit of the backstage entrance. Spottiness in Lance’s vision started coming back with a vengeance, but he disregarded it, chalking it up to flashing lights and large crowds.

“Oh my God! She’s gorgeous! How does she get her hair to do that?!” Jessie was so starstruck that it would be a crime to interrupt the little girl. So he found her a spot on the grass and urged her not to move.

“Umm, where’s her ticket? She has no business here!” Some Ariana Grande knockoff thought it noble to say to Lance.

“Neither do you, lady. What inspired _your_ fashion, a 70s hotel lobby carpet?” Lance continued narrowing his eyes at her cat-eye contacts until her burning gaze found her lap. He changed his mind about meeting up with Keith and decided that staying with Jessie was better, lest the lady wanted him to catch a fist full of her hair extensions…

Hunk and Sam found their way over after a while, and it was only a moment later that Lance finally asked about where they parked. Was it on the moon?

“No moon. Just somewhere that others won’t steal it.”

It was right next to Kinkade’s Lamborghini Aventador. Who knew where the hell that was…

Lance sighed at the energy wave of Keith’s growing agitation and knew it was time to intervene before two burly men took him away. And that would _not_ be fun for someone like Keith to endure…

.*.*.*.*.

“This puppy could literally be a gimmick to get backstage.” 

“I don’t _care_ about those women! All I want is my puppy and I’m not leaving until I get him back!” Keith’s teeth almost looked like fangs from a certain angle.

“Okay, okay.” Lance gave his shoulder a pat. “Is it about the pupper?”

Keith pressed his lips together, nostrils flared. An animalistic groan carried in the strain of his voice.

So, security was giving him hell over the animal stealing the spotlight in the first place, Lance realized. Yet they found it more than suitable to keep a scared pup backstage. News of Earl Gardner and his brother getting arrested must not have hit the airwaves yet. Imagine if everyone memorized that fluffy mug, then. 

Lance leaned against Keith, secretly because dizziness waved at him for a moment, “I’m just thinking, a puppy that misses his owner and doesn’t know if he’s coming back… Animals like him do strange things when they’re lonely…like chewing fabrics or leaving scratch and bite marks on the models. How much does all this cost, anyway?

The gentleman’s eye twitched at that argument, “I’ll be right back…stay here.” He used an _I’m watching you_ gesture with two fingers before disappearing promptly around the corner.

Keith was impressed. “How do you do it?”

“Lemon and honey make a good combination.”

The man waved for Keith to come in swiftly. The boy removed the red flannel from his waist, remembering that Kosmo slept on it in his bag. The animal's scent mingled with his own could work.

Once security carried his furry friend halfway through the hallway on a leash, he knelt with the flannel dangling outward in his hand. Letting him loose was a risk and one he was surprised these men decided to take. Yet despite being surrounded by about four of them, Keith’s breath hitched until the wolf took gingerly steps to him. With a quick sniff of the fabric, the animal immediately jumped into his arms and began licking his face vigorously. The seconds seemed to flow normally yet again.

Some of the security men were cooing as others were clapping. Then the models backstage echoed the same sentiments.

“He belongs to you?” A delicate British-infused accent echoed down the hallway. “Do you have any idea what that is?”

The girl, who’s long platinum silver hair draped elegantly behind her like a cloud, approached Keith until she was mere feet from him, “It’s beautiful.”

“I’ve only known him for a little while, but I will protect him with my life.” Keith burrowed his nose in his fur like he’s his very own child.

“He is gorgeous. Take good care of him.”

“ALLURA!”

The stampede of Lance, Hunk, Jessie and Sam come charging until security tackled them with a lift from the ground. They protested like a party of chickens, with Lance as the vocal lead.

“They’re with me.” Keith smiled in spite of the ridiculousness of the site.

Allura spreaded her hands, signaling for security to set them down gently.

“What do you guys even _take?_ Marvel superhero shakes?!” Hunk stretched his back for hidden kinks that one man helped him to loosen up. The kids were giggling from their one-in-a-lifetime experience.

“Allura!” Jessie was the first one to approach the woman, chest heaving. “Is this real? I can’t believe that this is real!”

“What’s your name?”

“Jessie! Jessie Garrett! And this is my little brother and my uncle and his friends and…” by the time she finished introducing everyone, she could barely speak for jittering.

The women rested her hands on the child’s shoulders, firmly inviting her to take deep breaths with her. Once calm, Jessie frantically wiped her tear-strewn eyes with her bare hands and apologized.

“You’re just so pretty and I…I like your hair and you…your accent is really cool, too!”

“You’re are so adorable!” Allura gushed “How old are you, Jessie?”

The girl answered eleven.

You’ve got style, and your bone structure is phenomenal. “You must have very good-looking parents.

Jessie smiled meekly with her head averted downward.

“I am serious. I can tell that you don’t believe that, do you?”

The girl took a deep breath and told Allura all about the boys at school that thought she was nerdy, or friends who didn’t think she looked like anyone’s girlfriend. “But I think that maybe I don’t have to be “pretty” with my looks to like myself.

Lance and Hunk nearly teared watching their little girl show such power. “Man, you should’ve been there when she confronted little what’s-his-name and got my wallet back!”

“Who?”

“Crayon, or Keeyon. Whatever.”

“You seem to like yourself a lot. That’s a very powerful trait to have.” Allura grinned widely.

“My uncle’s friend told me that I didn’t have to know how to flirt or wear makeup…”

“And he was right. Do you know if I were in your position, I would probably be watching old cartoons with my hair pulled back and wearing pajamas I haven’t washed in two days? I only wear this much makeup for my job and for the world to see. What I’d _give_ to be your age for half a day, never have to worry about that again. Girl, you’ve got it good!”

Jessie chuckled.

“Can I give you a hug, love?”

She nodded and tearfully allowed Allura’s open arms to envelop her.

“And please remember that there are a lot more girls your age who are like you than you think. So, don’t for a minute believe that you aren’t beautiful because you haven’t met them yet.” She gave the girl a pat on the back and expressed how thankful she was to meet her.

“Wait, Allura!”

The model stopped for a moment longer, and Lance did not want to keep her. So he swallowed the palpitations in his heart and took a few steps forward, trying to disregard natural funk from all the running he had done earlier. His brain became foggy with disassociation as he spoke his piece.

“My brother Marco…”

He saw Allura, then a rapid portal of darkness.

Hunk caught his collapsed friend in his arms before he could crash skull-first to the floor. He called his name while slapping his cheek gently, desperately trying to get him to respond.

Keith cursed and yelled for a medic.

Allura ran back to her dressing room, the kids staring with mouths covered. 

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for continuing to follow this story, my personal goal is to complete it by February. So, look for more frequent updates from here on out.


	8. "Nobody Leaves Without Singing The Blues"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith discovers shocking details about Kosmo.  
> The clock is ticking for the gang; get home before their parents do!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heads up: there will be a "parental" moment in this chapter. As the title suggests, this is one of the more sobering chapters compared to the randomness that was the last eight. There are still some lighthearted moments here, so don't worry about heavy angst.  
> Epilogue to come after this :D
> 
> [My Tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/tealrainbeau)  
> [♪Spotify Playlist/Fic Soundtrack♪](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0w9DYvtyDgRVaFKOCLQhlF?si=hT96Esn-Te-vRK3aFGT4VA)  
> 

“Um…guys?”

The boy was suddenly bombarded with a frantic chorus of “are you okays” and “Thank Gods”.

“Lance McClain… don’t you _ever,_ and I mean EVER, scare us like that again!” Hunk rattled his shoulders before giving him a vigorous squeeze.

“What did I do?”

“You passed out while you were talking to Allura!”

“Aww, man...” Lance buried his face in Hunk’s shoulder, “Guess something like that was bound to happen at _some_ point of my youth!”

Jessie rose from her spot and twisted her eyes to a frightening glare that Lance never wanted to see again, “You didn’t wake up for like two minutes! We were scared!” Her eyes dewed with tears.

“Hey, don’t you start getting all gloomy gus on me...” Jessie hiccupped in his arms until she was eventually consolable.

Between getting his bearings and quenching his thirst, it finally became apparent to him that he was not wearing his regular shirt. In fact, it was some black event shirt that they probably gave volunteers or something.

“Your original shirts are right here. Still intact, but in desperate need of some Tide Pods.” Hunk wrinkled his nose in memory of the gym locker-like stench.

"Where did Keith go?"

“Had to take care of something. Told me to tell you that he loves you and that he will most certainly kill you if you neglect yourself like that again.”

"Copy that." he said fondly. The tranquility from his post-pass-out faze quickly crumbled to a cruel weight of dread. “Hunk, you remember what time our parents were supposed to head on home?”

“I think they said the concert ends at eleven…WE NEED TO GET HOME BEFORE THEY DO!” Hunk started pacing the floor while wringing his hands.

The doctor showed up, a thick fellow with Brawny mascot arms and the most expensive Rolex. Lance believed it was worth a cool thousand…

“Hey, there. Feelin’ dizzy?”

“Not anymore. Just wanna go home.”

“You should be good to go as long as you stay hydrated from here on out.” He turned to Hunk with a smile, “He’ll be just fine.”

Hunk thought that doctor sounded way too cheery. And that spontaneous laugh hitching from him might have been Lance’s psychic sass tickling his nerves.

.*.*.*.

And Hunk found himself yearning for extended time under the first aid canopy once they got a gander of the sight ahead.

Like vultures, a party of reporters swarmed to them and Hunk nearly lost his focus for all the attention. He pulled Jessie protectively to his side while shielding her face with his arms with Sam following closely in the enclosure of his body width.

“How’d you get access behind the scenes? Is Allura as _alluring_ as people say?”

Hunk could only respond in the form of a wide, embarrassed smile.

But Lance seemed to soak it up completely, flashing a good-natured thumbs up and dodging the rest of them until they made a beeline for the Black Lamborghini. Kinkade and Keith were waving rapidly for them to come inside.

The car merged with traffic going west.

.*.*.*.

Back at the car garage, Hunk asked Lieutenant Kinkade if he investigated Keith this entire time, to which the man said, “Hmmph.” Hunk decided to fill in the blanks with a “yes” he did not receive whatsoever.

The garage crew apologized for earlier and insisted, on behalf of the commissioner, that the men walked tonight with the transmission free.

“What’s gonna happen to him?” Keith peered tenderly at the pup with finger massages to the animal’s skull.

“Nothing. Unless you want to give him a loving home. And just know he’s not a wolf…or a Husky.”

Keith tilted his head with a very confused frown wondering just what the hell this little guy could possibly be.”

“Have you ever heard of a Tamaskan?”

“A _what?”_

“It’s a rare breed, fairly new. They’ve been crossbred with many arctic breeds in Finland. Puppies cost as little as fifteen hundred US dollars, not counting for the price of pure-breeds.”

Keith’s throat stung as he recovered from the saliva he choked on. So this animal cost more than his rent?

“Still doesn’t answer why two millionaires wanted him so badly.”

 _“Do you have any idea what that is?”_ Keith remembered Allura’s features so fixed in shock and intrigue.

“It’s simple: These guys get mistaken for wolves all the time. Some wolf species are still valuable for their fur, unfortunately. This one caught their eye, but doesn’t sound like there was a lot of follow-through with their research.

Yet another case of dumb criminals. Keith secretly relished in knowing those bastards would be wearing loud orange pajamas for years to come.

“Well, it’s been real, Detective Ryan Kinkade. Catch ya on the flipside.” Lance said with a friendly wave.

“Just Ryan is cool.” He answered with a touch of a corner smile. “And Keith?”

“Yeah?”

“I’d like us to remain in touch, off the clock, if your boyfriend is okay with that.” He punctuated Lance’s title with a point of his gaze in the boy’s direction, then held up a hand adorned with a very obvious wedding band.

Keith squinted. Was that _always_ there?

“Argentina’s my wife.”

“You went and pursued a child bride? How could you?!” Keith’s was oblivious to Lance and Hunk’s startled hen movements as he yelled at the man, eyes shrunken and voice strained with exasperation.

“Let me be clear: she is two years _older_ than me.” Ryan held up two fingers shyly as if claiming a victory of some sort.

“ **Excuse me**? How is that even possible…” Keith’s voice and brain broke, rendering him capable of just holding out his palms in a messy zap of confusion. Hunk took this opportunity to drag his poor friend by his waist like a mannequin.

“Well, isn’t this precious? Now that you’re both friends, we can hit the freeway and you can catch him on video chat as he fills you in on _the real story, huh?_

Lance deepened his voice and pretended his water bottle is a microphone while speaking softly, “Tune in next time as Detective Ryan provides the thrilling conclusion of _The Young and the Reckless_!”

The soap opera theme was vigorously provided by Lance’s high-pitched “opera singing”, until Hunk scolded him for almost waking up Sam and Jessie.

"Sorry!"

.*.*.*.*.

Rachel knew better than to ignore the psychic dagger twisting in the pit of her heart. It was usually a “check up on your brother” cloud that rose out of the blue. The last time she felt that sensation was years ago when that bitch Stacey broke his heart.

And the dagger continued to twist the more she attempted to call him.

“Lance, what the hell is going on with you?” she muttered under her breath.

She already took the kids to bed, read them Peter Pan for the umpteenth time, and turned out the lights as they drifted off. But watching tv cross-legged on the living room floor did not take her mind off of things, either. She switched the TV off, leaving behind a coarse vacuum of darkness.

“Um…I was watching that…” James drawled.

“Lance is not answering his phone, and Hunk hasn’t responded either.”

James stepped up and massaged her shoulders like the attentive boyfriend he intended to be, “They’re probably having a guy’s night. Oriande Hills is huge. My parents met out there…”

"With children, James?"

"Oh...that's different..."

She held up a finger and quickly killed the vibration on her phone.

“You know I called you twice within the last two hours, right? You okay?”

Lance pinpointed Rachel’s fussiness for the second-hand anxiety hidden somewhere in her throat.

_“Okay, so you’re not gonna believe this, but we’re just now getting on the freeway.”_

“What happened? You okay?” She blurted out like a vomit.

Lance began his story with how he fainted, and hinted at other kinds of shit that happened during their time out there. He probably could sense the blood vessel gorging in her forehead and stopped talking.

_“We’ll fill you in once we get to Hunk’s. It’s closer than home, so Keith and I are gonna sleep over tonight.”_

She said “hi” to Keith and reminded her family to please be careful on the freeway and not rush.

“He’s such a dumbass, but I love him to pieces.” She uttered to James.

“Listen, I’m going home…”

Suddenly Marco’s steps drummed downstairs and Rachel had to put a finger to her lips with her teeth clenched.

“Look at the latest ten o-clock feature.” Marco’s smile was bent in restraint once he swiped with his thumb and showed them a brief news video of what looked like a baby wolf strutting around past Allura and the other models.

“Man, I _really_ should’ve been there! Damned jet lag…”

Rachel paused the video and narrowed her eyes at him, “It’s your wifey, I got that.”

Wait a second…

Her gaze magnetized to the video clip below. A heavyset boy with a Star Wars t-shirt and another very well-known boy that was tall and lanky. Her vision became temporarily blurry.

“Oh!” Rachel cried.

James rushed to her and followed her covered mouth of shock to the short video playing. It was definitely Garrett and McClain walking past a crowd of people and crawling into a sleek black vehicle. Was that an Aventador? Straight from the lot? Two kids standing next to him were blurred out.

“What did they do?!”

Marco’s well-meaning police pat felt strangely comforting this time, “Well, sis. Gonna have to grill him when he gets home. I’m pretty sure it’s all his fault anyway.”

.*.*.*.*.

Traffic was like a current of water, littered with a pile of rocks spilled haphazardly in the wash. Hunk’s knee jumped so rapidly that it was no wonder he didn’t step on the gas several times.

Keith was in the passenger seat, quieter than ever.

Lance busied himself on his phone, a sigh escaping from him periodically.

Hunk wanted someone to speak or to do something funny, just so he could stop resting his eyes on the muted traffic lights ahead. Just the right conditions for lulling to sleep…

“Whoever is still alive, please speak now or forever hold my peace.”

He was satisfied despite the lazy flow of answers from the two men. He asked Lance for the time, his pulse ticking rapidly when he said 10:45.

The tornado kicking around inside of him subsided some, and after today nothing else could phase him. Nothing else…

“So…that stuff in the cooler is probably a soggy mess now, huh?” Lance uttered in a monotone way that reflected his exhaustion.

“Still think we could’ve donated it…” Keith murmured unsavorily.

Lance’s expression livened to a pensive frown, “Actually, scratch all of that! Would’ve been better to just dump it, now that it’s considered blood food.”

Hunk’s stomach turned when his imagination thought it suitable to churn images of meat cooked with blood clots or drizzled in red.

Keith pronounced more slowly in spite of himself. “Blood food?”

Lance explained at a more glacial pace, “You know, like blood money? Except food. Wouldn’t put it past Gardner to have killed some poor endangered woodpecker or Tweety Bird as collateral.”

Keith moaned, clearly way too tired to process more of Lance’s logic and joined the rest of the car in silence.

.*.*.*.*.

Now that they were on the canyon pass on Olkari road, Hunk could breathe a little bit easier at the sight of cacti and of roads so dim that high and low beams shimmered like fireflies.

The two men joined the kids in slumber, but Hunk supposed it was for the best. Quiet was necessary. Quiet helped his brain to settle down and process the shit storm that went down in a city that was supposed to be synonymous with anything **but.** And whatever happened to Allura anyway? Maybe she went back to work, considering that they were just another group of fans.

11:15.

They were home-free.

The screen notification vibrated and rang like understated Morse Code in a dank cave.

“Hey, Mom.” 

_“Why are you answering your phone while driving?!”_ A tone that was firm and swift.

“Sorry, pulling over right now.” He grimaced and pulled to the side of the road.

Apparently, they were stuck in traffic, much to Hunk’s glee and relief. There was an accident on one of the freeways leading to the Olkari offramp, so they were coming home a little somewhat later than planned.

“How are the kids?” 

Hunk’s eye wandered and twitched. Thinking on his feet was the easiest thing until it came down to lying to his mom. “They’re asleep in the back seat. We, umm…let’s just say we witnessed one of the wildest productions yet. And got back to the car just around ten o’clock!” He finished with a wholesome grin, secretly proud of his ability to sort-of tell the truth without really _telling the truth_ …” How was the music festival?”

“Felt like I was back in my junior year of high school. Got some video of your dad trying to do the New Edition shuffle…”

He heard the man gushing over how he still “had it” and witnessed him waving his beefy hand before the attention was back on his mother.

“Hey, by any coincidence, you guys haven’t been watching the news lately, have you?”

“Just got on our phones to talk to you...”

“Some strange story about a dog running on the catwalk at some modeling show. It’ll probably be viral on Instagram.”

“That’s unusual. But drive safely, son. I love you.”

“Love you too, Mom. You be safe, too.”

He rubbed the smile from his face once she disconnected. Just forty-five minutes until they could see their neighborhood.

.*.*.*.*.

After a few seconds wrestling with the lock and key of his front door, Hunk tiptoed inside. He called for his mom and dad, swallowing calmly when no one answered back. 

Without a lingering word, Jessie and Sam said their goodnights and trudged upstairs.

Lance and Keith came in with Keith’s arms wrapped around Lance’s waist and chin perched snugly against his shoulder. Lance at this moment wanted to shrug Keith’s limp form off, only because of sleep’s spell crawling into his underbelly.

“Babe, aren’t you gonna get Kosmo out the car?” he slurred quietly with a yawn.

“Mhmm…”

Hunk stopped and faced Keith, “He can room with me, _only_ because he’s a puppy. He is not to roam around peeing on stuff. Got it?”

“Yes, sir.” Keith’s hands finally loosened from his boyfriend’s waist as he returned to the car for his suitcase. A shrill curse jumped from his throat, followed with fussing for being startled.

“Lance! Griffin’s here!”

Lance moaned under his breath and met the other boy halfway, trying not to let gravity tug his eyelids down further.

With a wrinkle of his forehead, James held out a very familiar backpack, “Um…Rachel wanted me to give this to you. Also, there's a video online, with you guys in it.”

“Isn’t that just apples and bananas. It’s a wild story I just can’t talk about tonight.”

“Well, better return home. Who knows how long my butler has been waiting up for me…”

Lance unzipped his backpack and searched the lovely contents until a slow, giddy breath escaped his lips, “My sister, the angel.”

“You better believe it.” Griffin tilted his head with a deep blush. “Listen, McClain…”

“Oh, believe me, I already know. Not exactly breaking news…” Lance got a glance at Keith, who was carefully rolling the luggage in with Kosmo sleeping soundly, “As long as you don’t feel the need to sneak anymore, it's whatever. You seem to make her happy, and that’s what matters to those who love her.”

“Thank you, McClain. The vote of confidence is helpful.”

“Could’ve said something like, three months ago…” He drawled with his hand on his hip.

“You didn’t make it easy to.”

“You’ve been bossing _me_ around for the past three years, _now_ you care about what I think?”

Griffin’s tone was resolute with a mist of calm, “Rachel was hesitant at first. I waited for her consent because I care about what _she_ wants. Good night, McClain.”

Lance stood for a moment and allowed the weight of what Griffin said. “Thanks for bringing my stuff.”

“Don’t mention it.” He waved before closing the door gently.

.*.*.*.*.

The boys showered and turned in for the night.

Keith continued tossing and turning as though he hadn’t been sleeping on a wooden floor the night before. Something about Hunk’s carpet was deceptively hard-surfaced, but he was not going to complain unless necessary. Maybe it wasn’t just the carpet; maybe it was the teeth of guilt biting him in the ass over and over until his heart screamed to his head to just stop being a chicken shit and tell Hunk’s parent’s everything that happened.

“Get up here.” Hunk rasped in a sleep-induced daze.

“I’m okay. Lance is already…”

“This is a king-size. Plenty of room for three.”

Keith weighed both options in his mind before rising and collapsing on the spot Hunk made for him at the foot of the bed. Unfortunately, it did little to alleviate the stress in his back.

“You need to tell your folks.”

“It’s not that I don’t _want_ to say anything; just gotta find the right time to do it…”

“How about when they get home?”

The larger boy groaned and turned his back away from him.

“Isn’t it better that they hear from _us_ before Oriande PD tries to contact them regarding Jessie and Sam?”

Hunk wailed and sat up looking at his bare feet. Keith got and sat next to Hunk, resting an assuring hand on his shoulder.

“I’m making it clear that I put this in motion.”

“Come on, Keith, you had no idea you were going to be chased down by Cruello De Vil!” Hunk’s voice nearly transitioned from a whisper.

“Guys! Can you maybe give it a rest?” Lance slurred. He sat up and lifted his sleeping mask. “Besides, I’m the one who _insisted_ we pick you up from the airport today.”

“And I’m the one who was literally driving the car when I could’ve said no!” Hunk debated.

Lance held up his palms, “Okay, then maybe we should all swallow our pie of blame and then wash it down with the responsible thing to do, which is to confess together.”

.*.*.*.*.

Hunk decided to call his parents to the kitchen table. It broke his heart to see them toasting over wine and reminiscing about the night only for their entire evening to change course. But pulling off a very life-size band aid was better when it was immediate.

With a deep breath, the young men spilled the main plot of their day, from the car breaking down to the drama with Mr. Gardner and his arrest at the end. By the time they finished recalling everything and accounting for any gaps, both parents were rather silent. The kitchen area no longer felt like an intimate after-dark couple’s retreat. Now it had transformed into something dim with sobriety, reminiscent of an interrogation room.

“We need time to process this, son.”

But his mother revealed that she had taken enough time. Hunk held his breath when her austere eyes meet his.

“Hunk. **Regardless** of the roles each of you played, someone should have called us immediately because you **knew** that there were young children involved!”

“I know that, Mom!”

“So what happened?!” Mrs. Garrett's voice raised, then drop to normal talking volume as she reigned in her agitation.

“That’s just it! _So much_ to where I wasn’t sure half of it was a dream or…” his voice floundered as he swallowed the lump that grew in his throat like a benign mass.

Mr. Garrett simply wanted to know if the Oriande PD would be calling them soon. Keith gave him an extra business card from Ryan Kinkade.

“Were any of you hurt?”

“No. We weren’t put in harms way, Mr. Garrett.” Lance assured seriously. “The kids honestly still don’t know what really happened.”

“Each of you could have been arrested for child endangerment, do you understand what I’m saying to you?” Hunk and Lance endured his mother’s meaningful glare while sitting up straight with their hands folded on their laps. “You are adults in the eyes of the law, now. Lance, _you’re_ going to be nineteen next month…”

Mr. Garrett squeezed his wife’s shoulder; which Hunk knew meant _my turn, let me take it from here_. “As parents, none of us can be here to protect you like we used to, so you _must_ be more mindful of your fronts _and_ backs from here on out. Do you understand me, young men?”

The trio uttered a stoic “yes, sir” in unison.

“Mom, Dad. I promise this won’t happen with Jessie or Sam ever again.” Hunk sighed shakily.

Mom grabbed his hand and squeezed it, “I know you love them, that you would willingly meet a harsh fate before you let anything happen to them. But as their actual guardians, I can’t trust them with you again. Not right away. Do you see where we’re coming from?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Get some rest, we’ll iron out the rest of these wrinkles in the morning. That also means you two.” She shot a glance at Lance and Keith.

The only one who got any real sleep aside from Sam and Jessie was the Tamaskan. The young men had seeds from their sermon to keep them up until dawn.

.*.*.*.*.

Despite eight o’clock, the room was rather dim by contrast of the abundant sunshine right outside the window. Warmth had begun to seep in.

Keith had been discreet various times at dawn trying to stifle Kosmo’s howling and making sure he did not soil Hunk’s carpet. He thought initially of going to the kitchen for a bite, but he wasn’t raised to scour through pantries and refrigerators in someone else’s home like that. So, he carried Kosmo to the spacious bathroom and soothed him there until Lance and Hunk finally decided to wake up.

Meanwhile, the two boys took their time, with Hunk rubbing his eyes and squinting.

Lance let out a drawn-out yawn before scratching his stomach and falling back on his pillow back to back with the other boy.

“Any sweet dreams?”

“Dunno. Had this one dream where we were back in Oriande and the Gardner brothers broke out of jail. There was this one part with Allura…”

“Ready to get some morning grub?” Hunk asked with the tone of one begging to stay in his room.

“Negative.” Lance’s mouth flipped into an upside-down curve.

Keith finally emerged shirtless with Kosmo in one hand, a partially wet t-shirt in the other, and a sour scowl on his face. “Good news, nothing got on the carpet.”

“What do you feed him?” Hunk asked with his nose covered while Lance remained in a berry-blush daze.

Hunk searched for an air freshener while Lance slipped on a pair of socks and grabbed an empty envelope to fan his face with.

“We kinda got off easy.” Keith said as he slipped on a plain red tee that was not stained with Kosmo’s urine. 

“You think? What would your parents have done?” Lance inquired as a challenge.

“Probably the same thing. But I know of some parents back at the Continuation school I went to Senior year that would _scream_ at their kids for doing dumb stuff…”

But they still took what they said to heart. And Mrs. Garrett had every right to be upset. She was right, it wasn’t about who was responsible; it was doing what was best for the kids at the time.

“I get a feeling that Pops is gonna work me like a slave horse, so it’s just you two. Get in some good couples time.”

Lance’s voice simmered to a whisper, “Wait, you’re eighteen! I thought you said they couldn’t ground you!”

“Oh, believe me, my parents know full well that they _can’t_ ”, he frowned with a sideways look, “but they will find workarounds, alternatives, etc…”

Lance laughed dryly, “These days, if any of us McClain kids are late for curfew, we’re on our own. I had to climb the roof just above our front door to get in my window last week. Wonder if that shingle managed to stay put…” he wondered with a chin scratch.

Keith folded his arms and leaned against Hunk’s desk with a dignified air, “Last time my dad ever grounded me was when I was twelve.”

His boyfriend rocked his head. “Bullshit.”

“Because he knew it wouldn’t work on me.” He stated matter-of-factly.

Meaning that all through his adolescence he was allowed and sometimes _left_ to suffer the consequences of his actions. That day he hot-wired an high-school kid’s car, Mr. Kogane purposely waited until near closing to come and collect his son from the precinct. Those were the most excruciating moments of Keith’s fourteen-year-old existence. Then when he was kicked out of the Garrison Academy at seventeen…

“Okay, I think you owe us that story now.” Hunk leaned over. “Because wouldn’t we have recognized you?”

“I was two years ahead. But anyway, I gave Iverson a death threat to his face.”

Hunk and Lance both wore identically raised brows and letter “o’s” for mouths. As Keith told them, he and Griffin got into a fist fight after catching each other on a bad day. They were both disciplined being cadets at the time, but Keith was facing a lengthy suspension due to other demerits in the past in spite of a shining academic record. At such a difficult time, it was the last thing he and his family needed. He was staying with a family friend named Kolivan who served as his guardian while his parents were out of state.

“I remembered saying, and I quote: _I oughta’ blow your f’ing head off_. I just lost it. Like I was watching myself say those horrible things.”

Both boys listened to him in silence.

I was a minor, so Iverson didn’t press charges, but there’s a permanent restraining order in place. Broke my dad’s heart to waste that money…"

The way it slid of Keith’s tongue like slowing molasses made Lance wonder how much distance the upper classman put between then and now. But there was nothing about this Keith today that would be classified as hot-headed, at least in the sense of uncontrollable wrath. Underneath that head-strong, impulsive tiger was a sensitive pussy cat who could choke on his words before they could come out linearly, just like now.

Before he could finish, Kosmo’s howling over layered the atmosphere of the bedroom. Keith reluctantly asked if they would be comfortable watching him?

“Where are you headed?” Lance looked up with a pout.

“If it’s alright with Hunk, I wanna go in the trunk and see if there’s some “blood chicken sandwich” he can eat.” Lance pretended not to hear the cheekiness in Keith’s voice.

Hunk tossed the keys to him and warned him to be quiet on a Sunday morning.

Lance tilted his head after frowning at Keith long enough and scrutinized Kosmo’s long ears and dark fluff.

He sat cross-legged on the floor. “Still think you look like a coyote.” He said with a loving scratch under the pup’s chin.

Three gentle knocks interrupted them. Hunk gave permission to come inside.

“Morning.” Sam was bright eyed and tranquil while Jessie immediately stretched from a yawn.

“You guys are up this early? I would’ve still been under the covers shutting the world out.”

The girl sad across from Lance and started cooing while petting Kosmo, and Hunk decided to join them on the carpet when Sam gave him an inviting look.

“I know you told Auntie and Uncle what happened.” Jessie squinted at her uncle like anyone who knew of Hunk’s boy scout habits would. “Are we in trouble?”

“No, Jess. You did absolutely nothing wrong. We were the adults and we kind of put you guys in a confusing situation.” The angry wasps from last night revisited his abdomen as he remembered the look of utter disappointment from his folks.

She started animating with her hands and a jovial smile. “Are you kidding? That was the most lit part of my summer, even Sam was telling me he wants to hang with you guys again!” But she stopped after looking at the saddened faces of the older guys.

“That might not be for a while, kid. But it sure was a blast.” Lance replied sadly.

“Auntie said we can’t hang out anymore, didn’t she?” Jessie’s eyelids drooped and Sam pouted.

“We’re also going to be working until we leave for college, so we’re gonna be pretty busy. But yeah, she said not for a while.”

“But it was so cool! I liked the toy store! I liked eating all those snacks! It was funny when you guys were playing tag with that grown-up…” Sam drilled excitedly.

The boys gulped at the last part.

“Hey, Jess?” Lance raised an eyebrow with a teasing grin, “You miss Keeyon?”

“Eww, heck no! Not after what he did to you.” The girl tilted her head down, “Rachel was right; they’re not really developed in the head. Now I see why it’s better to have one at your guys’ age.” She looked up, “Lance, can I ask you something that might be personal?”

“Shoot.”

She glanced at Sam, who was looking at one of Hunk’s comic books at his desk feet away, “Are you gay?”

“Nope, bi.”

The girl apologized and hugged herself tightly before scampering off. Both guys questioned where she was even going.

“Didn’t you just say “bye”?” she squinted with one eye.

Lance laughed and tossed out his hands, “I’m _bi_. I like girls and guys, but it's pretty serious between Keith and I.” he sighed in humble bliss.

“That’s cool. My old fifth grade counselor had a rainbow flag sticker with the words LGBT on her window.”

“Mine would be pink, purple, and blue.”

Keith knocked and came back in with a silver wrap. Lance witnessed Jessie rise and peer intensely into the boy’s eyes to tell him how “frickin cool” he was. It gave him a chill, especially when she chipperly decided to take Sam for some cereal out of the blue.

“Uh…okay…” Keith’s soft look of perplexity followed the girl as she turned the corner with the smaller boy.

“Don’t worry, she thinks you’re cool…”

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been struggling with the motivation to update my chapter stories lately, thus all the one-shots that have been popping up.  
> I'm probably not going to write anything _this_ crazy for a while. This story was jam-packed with craziness...  
> Either way, thank you for having to patience to wait for updates on this fic, I hope you guys like how it's all coming together.


	9. "Once in a Lifetime"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fall brings new beginnings for Hunk, Lance, and Keith.  
> Lance and Rachel experience growing pains during their time apart.  
> A surprise presence arrives to Balmera U: what could they be there for?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I actually wrote two endings to this one.  
> The first one was just as fun, but didn't quite feel as natural as the one that's posted. There is some brief Lance/Rachel angst in this chapter, which takes place three months later while the kids are in college now.  
> Everything that happens will tie into some future one-shots that I want to write.  
> Thank you so much for sticking with this story and for your patience.

Back in Garrison Valley, this time of year was rife with heatwaves and multicolored fall tree bursts that still held their own in dry air.

Here, Santa Balmera was a different story due to a gentle, yet generous sea breeze that preserved palm trees and collected bodies of all kinds in a generous state of bliss. 

Five minutes away from the campus, Hunk and Shay were arranging the finishing touches of their home. Yellow and orange throw pillows were strewn over a green contemporary couch. There were mementos of Shay’s culture, lots of earthly touches such as a rock garden in their front yard and a family crest of a volcano on a stone slate in the center of the garden. As for Hunk’s room, it was directly across from Shay’s room and was a near-replica of his room back home, with all the touches of his comics, wooden desk, and king-sized bed with metal headboard. Whether by coincidence or design, her cousins and brother had rooms that were directly next door to them.

“Feels just like home.” Hunk strolled behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist while his arms fell to the width of her hips.

She turned her head until he could detect notes of citrus from her neck, “Are you happy?”

“Are you kidding? _Thrilled!_ ”

At least they would be more excited had Hunk not been assigned a fifty-question Linear Algebra assignment to turn in by five this evening. It was already noon. Which means he was already late in his harried mind.

“Hey, want some juice?”

She answered with a request for some kiwi lime yet latched on to his t-shirt as she followed his caboose to the kitchen. She distracted him with a playful lip smack to his cheek and broke apart only for him to pull her into a more eager kiss, repeating until they were giggling and leaning against the sink.

“Uhh…not quite what the kitchen’s for…” a female voice taunted singingly.

Shay’s cousins had come home with groceries and set the bags down on the counter with naughty inside-jokes painting their lips.

Hunk quickly broke apart, breathless and flushing from being caught in the act in _their own home_. Shay was now fiddling with one of her hoop earrings and blushing despite a smile creeping to her face.

“You know, if this had been your brother…” 

“Yeah…” Shay drawled.

Hunk and Shay never had “the talk” about other next levels of their relationship, and to him that was for much further down the line anyway, _like a whole year further._

Speaking of “the talk”, he received two hours of it the night before move-in day, as if he had unlocked some rite-of-passage content from his mom in the form of lectures about being safe, yet not allowing the honeymoon phase of their romance to cloud their focus, because _they were there to study._ Also respecting boundaries, etc.

Eventually, her brother would have to do away with the weird, over-protective glares and remember that Shay was an adult now. And the same would go for Hunk.

And like responsible adults, they could have their semi-sexy time _after_ work was done. But wait a minute…that _one_ class started at six. Okay, a little hanky-panky wouldn’t hurt for thirty minutes.

.*.*.*.*.

_“So how many hits does it have now?”_

“Three million…and counting.”

The Oriande video of Kosmo the Tamaskan had become a summertime viral sensation, only dipping down thanks to a video of Allura announcing her indefinite hiatus from modeling, which was a surprise to many of her local and national Instagram followers.

Keith didn’t seem to mind his pet’s popularity too badly, until some smart ass pointed him out as the owner. Apparently, a novice photographer responsible for the fashion show aesthetics thought it would be cute to snap a full body shot of them with a caption that said _Lucky Dog: Fortunate Owner_. It was found on said person’s Instagram page and that went viral as well.

Lance waited for the link and took a minute to turn on his stomach from his outstretched back pose. He missed his own bed, but this one was homey enough away from home.

And there Keith was, wearing the outfit he had on that fateful day, looking like a glowing main course. He cradled Kosmo in his arms, the dog’s head resting just under his chin. And Lance never realized just how lean, yet muscular the man’s arms were. He pressed his finger on the picture until taking advantage of the “save to phone storage” option.

“I’m surprised you didn’t start bitching at the person to take it down.”

_“Knowing you, you would probably talk me out of it.”_

“Since when the hell do you let me stop you from doing anything, Kogane?”

_“Since you…I don’t know…”_ His voice reduced to a higher, yet muffled pitch. He was so cute when he was bewildered.

Lance giggled at the comments that followed under the caption:

 _“Hot damn” -from_ cuckoolala9

 _“I don’t know who’s more gorgeous, that puppy or the one holding him” -_ from ~annako~

 _“I’ll be your pet” -from_ crazyeightsu

He sent some psychic daggers to the third user, hoping that they felt a sharp pinch in their butt cheek or fingers or brain. Don’t give him ample time to sign up for a second account…

“Well, I looked at the picture and the thirst is real. Can’t say I blame them, though…” he uttered softly.

_“Say the word, and I’ll make them take it down.”_

“You’d have to make an account, then email them yourself…”

_“Ain’t nobody got time for that!”_

Keith’s frustration transitioned them to discussions about classes and the pressures of college life. Lance could picture Keith’s resting bitch face and the way one hand gestured while the other gripped his thigh in a self-soothing manner. He explained away about having four classes this semester and that it was only a matter of time before he would be bombarded with some thesis or some other complex math packets. And his least favorite part: having to publicly present research during finals week for Dr. Ulaz’s _Stress Analysis_ class. When Lance asked him to explain the course, “ask Hunk to explain it better” was his answer.

“That mind-blowing, huh?”

_“Time consuming, but I’ll ace it. How’s your course load?”_

“My _Interviewing Methods_ class is pretty interactive. Professor Smythe is a rather… _enterprising_ dude. Ask me again in, like, two weeks.” His professor was tall and skinny, yet not quite scrawny as evident by his decently sized torso and squared chin. His uniform: a cerulean vest with white turtleneck and navy-blue khakis were pressed and fell tapered. One striking feature was his squared chin ornamented with a carrot-orange handlebar mustache and matching coif. He must have been around late forty-something or early fifty-something.

Lance’s roommate, who was normally a mousy fellow with his face deep in his laptop, cracked a few nostril giggles. They happened to share the same class, but different schedules.

“See, Jordan gets my drift.”

.*.*.*.*.

Keith was feeling pretty light later that afternoon as he rode his motorbike to campus. Of course, talking to Lance had a lot to do with it. The man knew how to cool him off when he was feeling overly hot under his scalp. He left his apartment wearing a red button-down, untucked, with black jeans and a leather aviator bomber jacket. His hair was loose, but he left with a rubber band zipped in his pocket…

This weekend he would start his new job at the Kerberos Museum in Downtown Balmera, in the plaza adjacent from the VR arcade. It was good money and part of his work-study program he now qualified for as an upper classman. Just enough to pay for books and his downstairs one-bedroom apartment, where Kosmo would stay on the patio with a long leash in his absence. He spent all summer housebreaking him, especially since at six-month-old, he was now twice the size he was when they first met. There were moments where he would start howling if Keith were gone for too long…

He arrived at the Engineering lecture hall that had just a few seats empty. Dr. Ulaz was usually prompt about arriving on time, setting up his equipment before students started trickling in. But this time he was running a little bit late. No big deal. He claimed a spot in the middle row nearest a window.

The figure that walked in instead left his mouth ajar and eyes blown: Hunk Garrett, strolling in as though he were not a freshman in a class filled with juniors who had most if not all the basics of this course load under their belt.

“How the hell?”

“Had a long talk with the department chair, demonstrated my expertise in the subject, they said I would receive credit as long as my grade remains above a C. Really pays to talk to people here.” He sat next to him with gentle pride laced in his smirk.

Keith smiled.

Minutes later, Dr. Ulaz showed up and begin to discuss last night’s reading as though there was no question that everyone read it. Hunk pulled out his laptop and begin keying away. Keith knew he should go to the 21st century and invest in something high-powered from here on out. But for now, the last five or so pages of his red notebook would have to suffice.

.*.*.*.*.

Lance crossed his fingers that he would have his discussion end ten minutes early today. That way he could possibly grab a quick bite with the boys before they dispersed to different parts of campus, or home.

Rachel was finishing up her Dance History class for the day and usually shot him a text from the Olkari campus. Some sort of architecture she thought was groovy, a cute person that could potentially look good with Veronica. Today’s featured aesthetic had a lip piercing with blue hair and wore a skin-tight grey jumpsuit. Probably a theatre major, Rachel commented.

And in return, Lance would send her a picture of a family of palms, of him acting silly and making jokes about the surrounding student body. Today it was a group of girls with smiles spreading to the skies while dragging what looked like a carburetor.

**Rae:** _Are they about to make that flying thing from Star Wars?_

**_Lance:_ ** _You know there are millions of flying things in that movie, right?_

**_Rae:_ ** _Whatever flies across one of the deserts. Sorry I’m not geeky enough :(_

**_Lance:_ ** _I got you._

Mr. Smythe came in and told the class he would begin in three minutes. So, Lance took his phone and his throbbing heart with him to the back of the classroom for a moment. He used this time to Facechat his twin.

_“Yo! Doesn’t your class start in, like, a few minutes?”_ She asked plainly.

“Yeah, but you seemed really confused about the carburetor, so I thought I’d explain it… cuz, like, you never know…”

_“Maybe if I get a call-back for Jeopardy or some shit...”_

Which she never even put in an application for the show. Something else felt far duller than dread, yet strangely sharper during their pregnant pause.

“How’s James?”

_“He really hates the freshman class. One guy was literally mimicking his voice and his mannerisms to a T. Wish he was allowed to send me a video or something…”_ her voice cracked.

Hearing that familiar sound manifest from symptoms of homesickness and longing: something in his heart had grown to brambles that were now squeezing his chest mercilessly, “Rae, breathe!”

But they were so cool, yet so warm to each other when they hugged, and Lance said goodbye to his family as they made the two-hour drive back to Garrison Valley. Now for the first time since Lance went to the Academy had he seen Rachel’s mouth twisted into a misshapen rectangle while she sobbed a fierce fountain of tears. It wasn’t fair that her ugly crying was starting him up!

_“You just up and left for a school that’s a couple a’hours away! My commute is thirty minutes! I don’t know when I can c-c-come see you again a-and that s-ucks!”_

“Rae...” he wailed quietly as tears ran and made droplets on his desk. He quickly caught more into his sweatshirt sleeve, excusing himself to the hallway. He collapsed against the wall, shedding some more tears until the current between them finally stopped itself.

“ _Shit! My head hurts…”_

“I know, mine too.”

_“Lance?”_

“Yeah?” he sighed heavily after his round of sobbing was over.

Suddenly the most wicked chortle accompanied her smile, “ _You called him_ ** _James_** _.”_

_“Hmm?”_

“ _ **You** frickin called your former commanding officer _**_James!”_**

“You know what?” he threatened without much of a punch or emotion. But he did manage to wag a finger, “I love you, and I’m gonna call you after class at about eight, alright?”

_“Love you too, gemelo. Catch you at eight._ ”

“Bye.”

He ended the call and tilted his head in time to see silk fabric from a long pink sundress with strappy light brown sandals.

“Are you alright?” The British twinge…as he looked up faint periwinkle hair falling loosely to her dark brown shoulders. 

“Umm, yeah?”

“Oh my God, I can’t believe it! You’re that one boy that fainted backstage…” Her dual-toned eyes sparked with an exchange of familiarity the more they looked at each other. And Lance was in a huge need of emergency eye drops…

“Yep, that’s me, just a ball of angst. You looking for Dr. Smythe’s class?”

“I am. And I must say that it’s such a small world!” She squinted, smiling regardless as he nodded and motioned for Allura to follow him. It was definitely her, and the shock of his senses would wear off in due time. And once it did…

“Welcome, you two. In your case, Mr. McClain, welcome back!”

.__The End__.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you enjoyed reading this, I invite you to leave kudos and/or comments.♡  
> Also, I don't just write about funny scenarios with these guys, sometimes I will do angst as well. Got so many new projects swimming around in my head, but for now, I really want to get my other chapter stories out of hiatus before I can do that.  
> Also, if you have any questions about my writing or other fandom stuff, let me know. :)  
> You guys take care!


End file.
